Yondaime's Legacy
by KingBlue10
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures, in an act of desperation Naruto turned to the Kyuubi for help. In exchange for the power needed to defeat Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, Naruto had to remove the seal imprisoning the fox. The Kyuubi came close to freedom, but only for someone to arrive in last second. It was none other than the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
1. Prologue

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Here is the first chapter of my new story, I hope you guys like this so far. Also if you guys are interested in more stories, please check out my profile. I have three other stories there, two of which I just started alongside this one, and another one started a few months back.**

 **The older story from a few months back is called 'The Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage', my two other new stories are called "Child of Prophecy" and "God of Shinobi". Please try them out if you want, I hope you guys will like them as well as this one.**

 **Also just to make things clear the pairing for this story will be NaruSaku, to the people who hate this pairing I'm sorry but I can't do anything about it. This is my personal favourite pairing, and the plan of my story was to parallel Naruto and Sakura with Minato and Kushina.**

 **Anyway I hope you guys like this story, and please favourite/follow/comment if you haven't already. If you also have any questions, suggestions or constructive criticism about my story then feel free to message me, or you could also just leave a comment. Thanks everyone and please enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Prologue**

Three figures were silently walking through the dense forestation surrounding them, the three of them were mere genin participating in the annual Chunin Exams.

The team consisted of two shinobi and one Kunoichi, the standard arrangement for genin teams in Konoha. Among the three was a young ninja named Naruto Uzumaki, he walked behind his two other teammates with the sole purpose of covering their flanks.

Naruto was a young man with spiky blonde hair and whiskered cheeks, in front of him were his two other teammates, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. The blonde genin trod across the forest attempting to be stealthy, but his outfit prevented him from doing so considering the fact that he wore a full and bright orange jumpsuit, a colour not really suited for camouflage.

In front of him was his Kunoichi teammate, Sakura Haruno. The young pinkette wore a bright red dress, this probably wasn't the best outfit for a ninja especially in their current environment. Much like Naruto's orange jumpsuit, Sakura's red dress prevented her from concealing herself from possible enemies or attackers.

Finally at the front of the line was the last Uchiha himself, unlike the other two Sasuke had simple yet effective clothes. The raven haired boy wore a long sleeved dark blue shirt along with brown shorts, it didn't stand out as easily as an orange jumpsuit or a red dress. He stayed at the front of the group mainly because of his Sharingan, it helped him detect any possible enemies up ahead.

The three of them were completely silent, they didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. They simply went about their business, hoping to sneak up on another group of genin to steal their scroll.

" **Fūton: Daitoppa"** a sinister voice yelled out.

"What the hell?" yelled Naruto as the three began to feel a sudden gust of wind directed at them, they knew this wasn't just some strange weather, it was obviously an attack.

The three genin shielded themselves from the powerful winds, they were being pushed back slowly but they used their strength to keep their feet on the ground. Suddenly the wind stopped as a large plume of smoke appeared in front of the three genin.

"What? More enemies?" said Sasuke as he examined the three mysterious genin.

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as he saw the ninja in the middle of the three, 'It's that creepy Kusa guy from earlier on' he said to himself.

Naruto was extremely annoyed by the surprise attack, after dusting himself off he faced with the Kusa ninja with an angry scowl, "Hey you bastard, I'll get you for that. I will kick your ass" he yelled.

The Kusa ninjas didn't pay attention to the loud blonde, instead the creepy Kusa ninja faced his two teammates, "You two just go and play around somewhere else, I'll take care of these three" he said.

The other two nodded before disappearing, both Naruto and Sasuke scowled as they saw how confident the Kusa ninja seemed to be.

The Kusa ninja examined the three of them, 'I thought my wind attack would've separated the three of them, oh well it makes no difference, they're only genin anyway' he thought to himself before grabbing something from his pouch.

He raised his hand to show the three genin his scroll, "If I'm not mistaken the three of you have a heaven scroll, and I have an earth scroll in my possession. How about we fight for each other's scrolls, with our lives on the line" he said before placing the scroll back in his pocket.

The mysterious ninja then began to unleash and flare his chakra, both Sakura and Sasuke began to tremble in fear as they fell to the ground, they couldn't believe how powerful his killer intent was. The only one who remained unaffected was Naruto, he continued to stand his ground as he stared down at the Kusa ninja, he too felt his power but he was not intimidated one bit. One thing was clear for the genin of Team Seven, the Kusa ninja was no ordinary genin.

The mysterious ninja stared at his three opponents, he was quite impressed by the blonde's ability to withstand his killer intent, only the strongest or the bravest of ninjas were able to oppose the killer intent of a Sannin.

"Kukuku I'm impressed that you're still standing. I may have underestimated you brat. What's your name brat?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm the future Hokage of Konoha. You're going to regret attacking us you creepy bastard" he yelled back.

"You may have been able to withstand my killer intent brat, but don't get cocky. You three pose no threat to me"

Naruto crossed his arms as he stared into the Kusa ninja, he failed to notice the state of his two teammates. For once Sasuke laid down on the floor, he couldn't find the strength or the courage to stand up and face the Kusa ninja, the killer intent of their attacker proved to be too much.

Sakura was in the same position, she was too frightened by the Kusa ninja but she was surprised at how Naruto managed to stay calm after the enormous amount of killer intent. She gazed at her raven haired teammate and she could barely believe how much fear was in his eyes.

'For Sasuke-kun to panic this much, I've never seen him like this' she thought to herself.

It was then Naruto turned to his teammates, he was shocked to see them trembling in fear, "Hey guys what's the matter with you? Stand up and let's fight this guy, let's show him whose boss" he exclaimed.

Sasuke simply glared at his blonde teammate, "Dobe are you fucking crazy? Did you not feel his killer intent? We need to run away from this guy, he'll kill us" he said.

The Kusa ninja laughed sadistically, "You should listen to him brat. Prey should always be trying their best to run away, when in the presence of a predator" he declared.

Sasuke regained his composure, he stood up from the ground and grabbed the scroll in his pouch; "We'll give you our scroll if you promise to leave us alone" he said as he held up the scroll.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, he turned to his teammate and punched him straight in the face. Sakura was surprised to see Naruto attack Sasuke, "Naruto you baka what are you doing? Why did you attack Sasuke-kun?" she screamed in anger.

Naruto ignored Sakura's outburst, instead he stared at Sasuke with a cold stare enough to make his spine shiver.

"Sasuke what the hell are you doing? Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?" he yelled.

Sasuke wiped the blood away from his mouth as he glared at Naruto, "Do you not understand the situation were in. We are about to die, we need to give him the scroll".

Naruto walked closer to Sasuke and punched him again, "Who the hell are you and what did you to the real Sasuke?"

"What the fuck are you talking about dobe?"

"The real Sasuke wouldn't give up in a time like this, you must be a fake Sasuke or something. The Sasuke I knew was no coward

Sasuke's eyes widened, he couldn't believe Naruto's words, and worse he couldn't believe what he had just tried to do. He was no coward, he was Sasuke Uchiha and he didn't back down from anybody.

The last Uchiha stood back up to the ground before walking to Naruto's right side, the two simply glanced at each other and nodded, this was a sign of their acknowledgement for one another.

Naruto looked down this time to glance at his longtime crush, "Sakura-chan please go and look for a place to hide; we'll take care of this" he said.

Sakura shook her head before also standing up from her spot, "You don't tell me what to do Naruto, I'm a Kunoichi and I can handle myself. I won't let you guys risk your lives while I run away, I'm sticking here to help you two whether you like it or not" she declared before walking to Naruto's other side.

Naruto chuckled softly, "I guess there's no persuading you is there?" he asked.

Sakura grinned as she shook her head, "Remember what Kakashi-sensei said, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. I am not abandoning you guys" she said.

The three were broken from their conversation as they heard a sarcastic applause, there was no surprise that it came from their attacker, the mysterious Kusa ninja.

"What a touching display, once again you impress me Naruto-kun, this time you managed to rally the troops, too bad all of you are going to die" he said.

The Kusa ninja unsheathed his sword as he ran at the three ninjas, from the three genin Sasuke was the first to act.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

The Kusa ninja stopped in his tracks, he was unimpressed by the size of the fireball. He went through his own hand seals to counter this attack.

" **Doton: Doryūheki"**

A large stone wall emerged from the ground blocking the fire attack, Naruto was next to jump into action. The young blonde formed a familiar hand seal, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** he yelled.

Around about fifty Naruto clones popped up and all of them ran at the Kusa ninja, the mysterious attacker was inwardly impressed at the young man's ability to already use shadow clones.

But unfortunately for Naruto the Shadow Clones were not enough, the Kusa ninja quickly disposed of them without even breaking a sweat.

Naruto jumped back to his two teammates, he was shocked to see his shadow clones all effortlessly taken care off. Sakura saw the Kusa ninja approaching them, she began to form a genjutsu to keep him distracted.

The Kusa ninja scoffed at the weak attempt, he simply brushed the Genjutsu off. Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration, he summoned another fireball at the attacker but one again it was to no effect, he simply dodged the attack.

"Kukukuku you brats are impressive for ninjas your age, but you still aren't a match for me. Don't worry I'll make sure your deaths are quick" he declared.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

The three genin stared in awe as large puff of smoke appeared, within the smoke an even larger creature sprung forth. The ground around them trembled as a gigantic snake slithered closer to the three genin. Before any of them could dodge, the snake used its tail to swipe at the genin.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were sent flying into different directions, each crashing into a tree. They barely had the strength to move, their body screamed out in pain from the impact.

"Kukuku thanks for your help Manda, feel free to eat the other brats, I'll take care of Sasuke-kun" he said before jumping off the snake's head.

Using his sensory abilities, the Kusa ninja found Sasuke's chakra signature. He slowly walked over to the Uchiha, and he was surprised to see him standing, albeit gingerly.

"Hello again Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke grabbed the kunai in his holster, "What do you want with me you freak? Come here to kill me? Or are you here for the scroll?"

"None of the above Sasuke-kun, I just came here to offer you a parting gift of sorts" he said.

Before Sasuke could reply, the Kusa ninja ran at him. In desperation, Sasuke summoned his Sharingan once more. He threw a Fuma Shuriken at his opponent, along with a kunai.

The Kusa ninja effortlessly caught kunai projectiles with his teeth while dodging the large shuriken, but in the last second his eyes widened as he noticed the wires attached to them. He turned back to Sasuke only to see the Uchiha grinning madly, "Time to die" he yelled.

" **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu"**

Fire made its way to the ninja wires through the wires, the attack connected as it burned the Kusa ninja's face, Sasuke smirked victoriously as he watched the man burn. But then Sasuke began to hear another sadistic laugh, 'Impossible how is he still alive after that?' he thought to himself.

The fire died down leaving the Kusa ninja's face burnt, but what surprised Sasuke was how it looked as if his skin was peeling off instead. Underneath the burnt face seemed to be yet another face, but this time it was unharmed by the flames.

"To be able to use the Sharingan so well at this age, I'm impressed Sasuke-kun. I really do want you Sasuke-kun, you passed my test and I can sense the power in your eyes. The power that could surpass even Itachi's"

"How the hell do you know that name? Who the hell are you? Answer me" Sasuke yelled.

The Kusa ninja's expression turned serious as ripped away the skin from his burnt face, "My name is Orochimaru and if you want the power to defeat Itachi then seek me out. Before then I will leave you with a parting gift" he said.

Orochimaru's neck extended abnormally, he reached the side of Sasuke's neck and bit it. A seal began to form around this area. Sasuke fell down onto his knees as he screamed in pain, he clutched the bitten area in pain but soon unconsciousness took over.

Orochimaru walked back over to Sasuke's unconscious body, he grabbed the scroll in his pocket and placed it in the boy's jacket.

"If you survive this Sasuke-kun then proceed to the next round, I look forward to see how you fare against the best this competition has to offer" he said before vanishing in search of the other two genin.

Orochimaru arrived back to stand on top of Manda's head, apparently the snake was yet to locate his prey. Orochimaru helped the snake by using his sensory power to locate the other two, once he pinpointed their locations he sent the snake to eat Naruto. Orochimaru on the other hand was simply going to kill Sakura himself.

Naruto clutched his torso in pain, he heard and felt the snake approach his direction, and he barely had the strength to move. Earlier on Naruto heard Sasuke's scream, he feared the worse for his friend but he feared more for Sakura. Naruto was leaning on a tree branch, and somewhere just below him was Sakura, he wanted to run to her or to call out to her but he couldn't find the strength to do so. His body couldn't take anymore punishment.

His eyes soon widened in fear, he finally saw the Kusa ninja arrive with his snake, this time though the Kusa ninja seemed to have a difference appearance. Naruto still knew it was the same person, he wore the same outfit and he had the same chakra signature.

Naruto watched on as the Kusa ninja jumped off the snake's head, his fear began to rise as he watched him approach the injured pinkette. She was in the same situation as him, she was awake but she just couldn't find it in herself to move.

Naruto grit his teeth as he attempted to stand, unfortunately for him it was to no effect. He watched closer as the Kusa ninja walked over to Sakura with his sword in hand, it didn't take a genius to know what he planned on doing. If Naruto didn't act now then Sakura was going to die, hell even he was on the verge of death as the gigantic snake also leaned closer to eat him.

Then time stopped for Naruto as everything began to happen in slow motion, while in this state he heard a familiar voice speak to him, **"Hey brat I could lend you some of my power if you want"** it said.

Naruto shook his head, "Shut up you stupid fox, I don't need your power. Especially after what happened in the Land of Waves" he replied.

" **Come on brat think about what you're saying, right now you're on the verge of death and so are those teammates of yours. If you don't act now then they will die"**

Naruto bit his bottom lip, the Kyuubi had a point there. He was desperate to save his friends, but he also knew of the dangers of using the fox's chakra.

" **Make up your mind brat, the girl's getting closer and closer to death. The longer you take then you risk putting your teammate's lives in danger"**

He turned his head to Sakura, he could the Kusa ninja in front of her with his sword at hand, 'What do I do? What the hell do I do? I'm stuck in a rock and a hard place' he thought to himself.

Naruto was once again broken from his thoughts as he heard the Kyuubi's booming voice, **"Brat make your decision now. What is it going to be?"**

Naruto sighed in defeat, desperate times called for desperate measures.

" **Do it Kyuubi"** he yelled back.

The fox chuckled darkly, **"Good answer brat"** it said before injecting Naruto with his power. Red chakra began to form around Naruto's body, it began to take the shape of a fox. The red chakra began to heal Naruto's wounds, the young blonde then found the strength once more to stand.

The snake lunged to eat its prey, but before it reached Naruto, the young genin disappeared. He ran as fast as he can and he appeared within a few seconds in front of Orochimaru, he cocked back his fist and struck the Sannin in the body sending him flying through the trees. He arrived just in time to save Sakura from her death, the pink haired Kunoichi could only stare in shock and disbelief.

"Naruto is that really you?" she asked.

Naruto gave no answer, instead he rushed to attack the gigantic snake. Once again he cocked his fist back to prepare his attack, he jumped high up into the air to face the snake, once in this position he punched the summoned creature.

Manda fell to the ground before disappearing with a plume of smoke, Orochimaru soon arrived back in the area in shock as he watched Naruto effortlessly dispose of Manda.

The gears in his head began to turn as he examined Naruto, "What an intriguing turn of events, it seems as though the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki lives. I would have never expected for you to be that Jinchuuriki, Naruto-kun" he said.

Naruto sensed Orochimaru's return, he turned back to face his opponent this time he went down on all fours. He ran at Orochimaru completely blinded by his rage, his only goal right now was to kill the Sannin and nothing more, after what he did to his team Orochimaru deserved nothing less.

Naruto made sure to take the battle to an area where Sakura wouldn't be affected, his goal was protect his teammates and obviously he didn't want Sakura to get hurt. In his one tailed state, Naruto managed to challenge Orochimaru, but unfortunately for him it was not enough.

He was still lacking power if he wanted to defeat Orochimaru, soon in act of further desperation he added another tail, Orochimaru continued to hold Naruto off at bay but he knew that if Naruto continued then things could get complicated.

After a few more minutes it was clear to Naruto that he still wasn't strong enough to kill the Sannin, he knew he needed more power and so two more tails sprouted from his chakra cloak, Naruto was finally in his four tailed state.

The power radiating from Naruto seemed to engulf the village, everyone could feel this familiar power rising. It was a power Konoha hasn't felt in around twelve years.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Forest of Death**

A sickly smile made its way to the red haired Suna ninja, he felt the power emerging from the forest and it only served to get him excited. An uncharacteristic laugh began to emerge from the young man, 'It seems I'm not the only one here' he thought to himself. After his bloodthirsty chortling, he turned back to stare at his two frightened siblings.

"Temari, Kankuro let's go. I want to make it to the next round already" he ordered.

The two other Suna ninjas nodded their heads as they followed their little brother, neither noticed the blood thirsty smile on their brother's face.

'Mother is excited and so am I, I've yet to kill a fellow Jinchuuriki before'

* * *

 **Hokage's Office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha stood behind his desk, in front of him was a collection of his most trusted ANBU officers, Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin.

"Attention everybody I'm sure you all felt that power, I want you all to prepare and meet me by the entrance of the Forest of Death. We will investigate this power and we will put a stop to this before it comes to harm the village"

"Hai Hokage-sama"

Hiruzen nodded and dismissed the ninjas, he too prepared for what was to come. As he prepared his battle attire, worry and doubt began to creep up, he prayed to Kami that Naruto was alright. He wondered what in the world could have led to Naruto unleashing the Kyuubi's powers.

'Please Naruto, be safe'

* * *

 **With Naruto**

Unfortunately for Naruto he still couldn't defeat Orochimaru, the Sannin simply had too much experience in battle and too much power that he managed to neutralize most of Naruto's attacks. Naruto was yet to face an opponent this powerful, he thought defeating him was simple if he used the Kyuubi's powers but apparently it wasn't as simple as he initially thought.

The two left a trail of destruction as their battle continued, Sakura simply watched from her old position in fear. She couldn't believe how much power Naruto had, and she couldn't believe how Orochimaru was yet to be defeated.

Sakura continued to watch the two fight and the longer it went, the more it seemed to be like a battle between gods. Sakura was too focused on the battle to notice the tears falling down her face, she couldn't take watching Naruto act like this. This was not like the Naruto she knew, this was not the kind or caring knucklehead of Team Seven.

Seeing Naruto in such a state just made her tick, Sakura began to push her body and force herself to stand up. It took a while but in her current state of desperation, she managed to ignore the pain.

Sakura then began to walk closer to Naruto, at the moment he was staring down Orochimaru. He didn't even sense Sakura approaching.

"Naruto that's enough, you don't have to do this anymore please" she yelled as she walked closer to her teammate.

Naruto turned his head as he saw Sakura approaching, in this current form he couldn't tell if she was an ally or a foe. Instead he roared into the sky as he used one of his tails as a whip, Sakura was hit by Naruto's tail and once again she was sent flying back to her spot.

A burning sensation began to inflict itself at her arm, but at the moment she could no longer feel the pain as she was knocked unconscious by Naruto's tail.

Naruto turned back to Orochimaru, not even sparing a glance back at Sakura. The battle between the two raged on, Naruto did his best to dispose of Orochimaru but even in this state he couldn't defeat him. This time however he was inflicting damage on the snake Sannin, the only problem was that the damage wasn't vital, he still couldn't defeat Orochimaru no matter how hard he tried.

Before Naruto could continue on with this battle, time once again seemed to have slowed down for him. Naruto blinked wondering what was going on, after a few seconds the environment surrounding him began to change, the forest was turning into some strange looking sewer.

* * *

 **Naruto's Mindscape**

Naruto stood back in front of a massive cage, the environment around him no longer consisted of trees, and instead he seemed to be in some strange sewer rather than a dense forest. Naruto knew from past experiences that he was in his own mindscape. Earlier on when the fox lent him his power, he only spoke to him telepathically. Now apparently the fox wanted to speak to him in person.

"What do you want fox? I'm on the verge of finally beating this guy"

" **Silence you fool, I called you here for a reason"** the fox yelled out.

Naruto was unaffected by the fox's outburst, "Well what is it? I can't afford to waste my time especially in a situation like this" he replied.

" **You don't have to worry brat, were in your mindscape. You haven't been fighting the freak for a while now, your animal instincts took over a long time ago. Unfortunately for you though it is still not enough, I have given you four tails worth of my power and at the moment it is still not enough to defeat your opponent"**

"Why don't you just give me more then?"

" **I would if I can, but your body cannot take any more chakra or it will die. When that happens then both of us die and there will be nobody left to protect your friends. They'll be as good as dead if that happens"**

Kyuubi inwardly smiled as he saw Naruto getting worried, Naruto's dedication to his friends could be the fox's way out of the cage. All he needed to do was smooth talk his way out of this, he needed to push Naruto to the edge.

In truth he could easily add more tails for Naruto, at the moment he believed that four was the perfect number for now. It wasn't strong enough to defeat Orochimaru, and it wasn't weak enough to lose to Orochimaru, it was the perfect level of power to trick Naruto.

"What are you saying then fox? What can I do to help my friends? I can't have them die on me"

The Kyuubi raised a paw to silence Naruto, **"Calm down brat and listen. Do you see the seal on my gate"** he said.

Naruto examined the gate and saw the seal placed on the keyhole, he glared at the Kyuubi after locating the seal, "Yeah and what about it?" he asked suspiciously.

" **If you want to save your friends then you'll have to remove it. This will allow me to give you the power to save your friends, at the moment this is the only thing stopping me from giving you more tails. You'll need to remove it if you want to defeat the snake freak"**

"What's the catch?"

" **There is no catch brat, if you want to protect your friends then you'll have to remove it, that's all there is to it. If you don't remove it then I can't guarantee a victory for you, and if that happens then you can say goodbye to pinkie and duck butt. So what do you say?"**

"How do I know you're not just tricking me or something?"

The large fox simply shrugged, **"I don't know either kid. I guess you'll just have to trust your instincts"** he said nonchalantly.

Naruto began to quickly think about both pros and cons in this deal, he couldn't tell whether the fox was being honest with him or not. But despite his hesitations and reluctance to agree to the fox's deal, he was extremely worried about his fight against Orochimaru. He didn't know what to do in this situation, he couldn't bear the thought of seeing Sasuke and Sakura die. They were his teammates and deep down inside he considered his team like a family, in fact it was the closest thing he's ever had to a family.

Just the mental image of seeing his two teammates and friends deceased made his blood boil, with renewed dedication he decided to risk it all. If it backfired on him then so be it, at this moment the only thought on his mind was the safety of both Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto didn't even care about his own safety at this point.

"If I do this, can you promise me something fox?"

" **Depends on what it is"**

"Please kill the Kusa ninja, and please just keep my two teammates safe"

The Kyuubi was beginning to feel excited, his plan was coming to fruition and everything was working. He was close to freedom, at this moment he decided to entertain his jailer for a bit.

 **"Yeah sure, whatever you say"**

Naruto nodded and thanked the fox, he began to walk closer to the gate until he reached its front. He failed to notice the devious grin forming on the fox's face, instead he focused on the task at hand. When he reached the front of the gate a pillar of water began to rise, it elevated Naruto to face the seal.

Naruto breathed in and out to calm his nerves, he slowly reached out to grab the corner of the seal. Slowly he began to tear the seal, the Kyuubi's eyes widened in anticipation as he watched the seal weakening.

' **My return is close at hand, just a little bit more brat then I will be free. I will destroy this pathetic village'** he thought to himself.

The seal was halfway removed, but before Naruto could fully tear it down he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was broken from his reverie and soon the pillar of water broke down, Naruto fell onto the floor nursing his head, he wondered what had just happened.

The Kyuubi's expression turned from excitement into anger as he watched the event unfold before his very eyes, **"No, not you again. I was so close to finally being free from this shithole, but you had to come and ruin my plans"** he yelled in anger.

Naruto laid on the ground still in shock, he then blinked repeatedly as he saw a hand appear right in front of him, and it offered to help him stand up. He decided to grab onto the hand and he was brought back up to his feet.

Naruto's eyes widened as he was brought face to face with the mysterious figure. The man had spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes that went along with his standard Konoha Jonin uniform on. But what caught Naruto's eye was his long white haori, it reached down to his knees and the hem was designed with red flames.

There was no mistaking it in Naruto's eyes, he was standing in front of his childhood hero, the Yondaime Hokage. Naruto spent enough time sitting and gazing at the Hokage's Monument to know the faces of each Hokage, and the man in front of him perfectly resembled the Yondaime's face.

Naruto gulped nervously as he faced the man, everything about him matched the Yondaime Hokage but even then he still had to know if it really was him. He needed to know if he was just in one strange dream or was this reality.

"Who are you?" he asked. The Yondaime remained silent for a few seconds, instead he simply smiled proudly at Naruto. The young blonde was surprised by this gesture, he didn't know what it was but he felt warm inside as the man smiled at him. The Yondaime Hokage then kneeled down to reach Naruto's eye level.

"I'm the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze. But more importantly, I'm your father, Naruto"

* * *

 **Glossary**

Fūton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique

Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu – Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Doton: Doryūheki – Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall

Kuchiyose no Jutsu – Summoning Technique

 **Author's Note**

Sorry if the fight may have been quick, I just don't think that three genin would even challenge a Sannin, despite one having the Sharingan and the other being a Jinchuuriki. In the original manga Orochimaru still defeated Naruto while he was in his four tailed mode so it made sense for Naruto to still lose to Orochimaru, but here his four tailed state isn't as strong as the one in Shippuden because Naruto didn't have Jiraiya's training.

Anyway thanks for reading my first chapter, the next one will have Naruto finally talk with his dad. O hope you guys liked this, and if you guys are interested please also check out my profile for my other stories, there are more details about them in top of this page. Please favorite/follow/comment on my story if you haven't already, and if you have any questions or suggestions then please pm me or comment on my story. I will do my best to answer questions and work on suggestions. I hoped you guys like the pilot chapter of my story, there will be more to come. Thanks everyone for reading.


	2. Father and Son

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Hello everyone I give you chapter 2 of my story, I hope you guys like it. At the moment the length of these chapters are still a bit short, but as soon as we reach the more plot and story focused areas then the chapter length will begin to improve. At the moment I'm still in the introductory stages and chapters of my story. But once everything is set I promise to increase the chapter length.**

 **Also I know I promised to update quicker for this and The Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage, but I must say that I really underestimated college life. It has taken up so much of my time and I thought it was going to be a lot like high school but with more freedom, well I was completely wrong about that. I don't like to make excuses and I hate breaking promises but college is really making it difficult to update on the regular and for that I apologize, I'll try to continue updating more regularly. As for my other story the Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage, I'm in a bit of a writer's block on this one and add that with my lack of time, it's been quite difficult to properly update that story. But I will update it soon, I'll try to update it within this week or the next, but I will definitely update my fourth story, Child of Prophecy next week as well.**

 **With that small rant out of the way, I'd like to thank everyone who has been following and supporting this story. I can't believe I've already eclipsed over a hundred favourites and follows for only my first chapter, you guys rock and please keep it up. If any of you guys are interested in my other stories as well then check out my profile, I have three others and please give them a try.**

 **Thanks everyone for your support, please continue to favourite, follow and comment on my story. If you guys also have any opinions, questions, suggestions or constructive criticism for my story then please just comment or message me. Anyway without further ado here is Chapter 2.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Father and Son**

For the first time in a long time, Naruto was speechless. He couldn't utter a single response, his emotions were all muddled up. He continued to stare at the Yondaime Hokage, and with just one look at the man Naruto could tell that he was speaking the truth.

The similarities in their appearance was uncanny, for Naruto it truly felt as if he was staring at his future self, from the spiky blonde hair to the bright blue eyes, there was simply no use in denying it. In fact, the only discernible difference between the two was Naruto's whiskers, and that was something he could attribute to the fox.

"Are you really my father?" he asked in a hushed tone.

Minato leaned closer to Naruto and engulfed the young boy in a tight hug, "Yes I am Naruto, I'm your dad" he replied.

Tears began to well up in Naruto's eyes, the young genin also hugged his father in return. The two stayed in that position for a few moments, everything was just too overwhelming for Naruto.

"Dad why did you do it?" Naruto asked as tears continued to cascade down his whiskered cheeks.

Minato sighed heavily, despite the vagueness of the question he knew exactly what he meant.

"It's because I had no other choice, son. I wish things could have gone differently but at that moment in time I had no other choice. I couldn't ask another parent to sacrifice their child, and as much as it pained me to do it, I had to seal the fox within you" he replied.

Naruto's jaws clenched in anger, he pushed his father away from the hug and instead he glared at the older blonde.

"Why did it have to be me? Do you know how I had to suffer because of that decision? My life has been a living hell because of that bastard fox, what were you honestly thinking?" he yelled in frustration.

Minato winced at his son's outburst, he felt even worse as he stared into his red puffy eyes. But before he could reply, the two were interrupted by a loud and booming voice.

" **Enough of this, Yondaime you will pay for what you did. I swear to Kami, when I get out of this place I will finish what I started twelve years ago, and this time there is nothing that could stop me"**

Minato rolled his eyes before facing back at the cage which held the Kyuubi, "Listen here Kyuubi, you just interrupted a heart to heart talk between my son and me" he said in return.

" **Yeah and what are you going to do about it?"**

The Yondaime chose to ignore the fox's taunt. He instead faced his son, "He never shuts up, how about we go somewhere else" he suggested before snapping his fingers.

The whole area around them began to change, no longer were they near the Kyuubi's cage, now rather than being in a dark and gloomy sewer they were instead in a large white empty space. Naruto was shocked by this sudden change, he looked around and examined the area and there was no sign of the Kyuubi, the place didn't even have any boundaries. It seemed to be an endless plane of nothing.

"Now we can finally talk in peace" Minato said.

Naruto nodded in agreement, he silently stared at his father awaiting for the answer to his question.

Minato slumped down knowing there was no point in avoiding this question, he just decided to get it over and done with. Though he prayed to Kami that his son would understand why he chose to do it.

"Naruto I sealed the Kyuubi inside of you because I knew you would one day learn to control it, you are my son after all, and there was another reason why I did it. During the fox's attack I learned something important. There was someone hiding in the shadows and he was controlling the Kyuubi"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "What do you mean?" he stuttered out in fear.

"The man I faced was a shinobi of unfathomable power, even I had a hard time facing him. He had a mysterious and unique set of skills which were able to neutralize some of my jutsu, and I'm sure he plans to strike again"

"Who is this person?" asked Naruto.

"His name was Madara Uchiha, he disguises himself with an orange mask. He may seem harmless at first but trust me, he might just be the most dangerous ninja in the world right now"

"That's impossible, Sasuke is the last Uchiha other than his brother, and isn't that Madara guy supposed to be dead?" Naruto yelled in response.

Naruto may not have been the brightest or most attentive student in the academy but certain topics interested him from time to time, one of which was the exploits of past Hokages. During his history lessons his class was being taught about the days and lives of the Shodai, Nidaime, Sandaime and Yondaime Hokage, and of course with Naruto wanting nothing more but to be a future Hokage, he drew an interest into this specific topic. Obviously when it came to the Shodai's history lesson, Madara had to be mentioned on numerous occasions.

Minato simply shook his head, "I do wish that was the case but unfortunately Madara does live, and unfortunately he will be coming for you Naruto mostly because of the Kyuubi" he said.

Naruto continued to glare at his father, "Dammit stop lumping all this crap on me, and how the hell am I supposed to deal with that guy if you couldn't even defeat him. He was strong enough to control the fox, how could I defeat a man like that" he angrily replied.

The Yondaime simply chuckled as he placed his hand on Naruto's head, "Don't worry Naruto, the solution is simple. All you have to do is surpass me" he said with a soft smile on his face.

Naruto ceased his rant as he stared into his father's eyes in disbelief, "Surpass you? Are you seious?" he mumbled.

Minato nodded his head, "Yes Naruto, you will need to surpass me and I know you can do it" he said.

The young genin was left dumbfounded by that statement, the task in itself seemed impossible to achieve but in the way the Yondaime said it, Naruto couldn't help but feel confident in his chances. He could hear the belief in his voice. For as long as Naruto could remember, he always aspired to be like his hero the Yondaime, and he even dreamed of one day surpassing the man.

Naruto was beginning to feel overburdened with a plethora of different thoughts. In this state of mental meditation, everything just came crashing down for Naruto, the realization just set in for him. He was the Yondaime Hokage's son, he was being hunted by Madara Uchiha because of the Kyuubi, and he was given the responsibility of stopping Madara but to do that he also had to surpass the Yondaime Hokage. All these responsibilities and revelations were too much for a young kid such as Naruto, he wasn't mentally or emotionally prepared for this encounter.

Naruto's life may have been somewhat complicated before, but now with all this added on, his life was now even more complex. Simple was not a word in Naruto's dictionary, everything about him just had to scream extravagant.

Minato watched his son go into deep thought, it had been a minute of silence. Minato began to feel a bit worried, 'Did I break him?' he inwardly asked himself. The silence continued for another minute, Minato decided to just intervene and speak up to break Naruto's state of rumination

"So how are you feeling Naruto?"

Naruto was broken from his reverie as he heard his father speak up once more, "Come again?" he asked.

Minato chuckled while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, "Sorry about that, I just saw you concentrating so hard that I kind of got a bit worried. I asked about how you feel about all this?" he replied.

"I feel overwhelmed about everything to be honest, in fact I actually have no idea what to feel right now" answered Naruto.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just feeling all sorts of emotions at the moment, I'm scared at the thought of having to fight that Madara guy, I'm angry because you guys sealed the Kyuubi in me, but at the same time I'm happy to finally know who my father was. For such a long time I always thought that I was abandoned or if my parents hated me, I used to cry myself to sleep after seeing all my other classmates with their own parents, I was so jealous of them"

Minato frowned at his son's confession, "Naruto don't ever question your parent's love for you, your mother and I loved you with all our heart and we would have never abandoned you. As for Madara, don't worry about that. The time for that will come later on, for now focus on improving yourself and getting stronger, there will be a lot of people who will help you along the way. And like I said, you will surpass me one day Naruto, all you have to do is work hard and persevere, and the rest will come in time" he replied in a fatherly tone.

Naruto's bottom lip began to quiver as he tried to resist the tears threatening to spill, "Thanks dad those words really mean a lot to me. But if you don't mine me asking, who was my mother?" he asked in a sombre tone.

A fond and loving smile made its way to Minato's face as he thought about the fiery and temperamental redhead who stole his heart, "Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki. I guess you could say that in terms of personality, you probably took after your mother. From what I know you're a bit of a prankster and a troublemaker, and your mom was exactly the same" he answered in a jovial tone.

The young genin was surprised to hear that, he never expected his mother to be a prankster either, "So what was she like?" he continued to ask.

"Well your mother was unpredictable, hot-tempered, erratic, volatile and capricious, but at the same time she was also one of the most loving and caring people I've known. In fact before you became the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, your mother was actually the previous container"

"Really? I guess that makes sense, it really does explain a lot" Naruto muttered in response.

"Yeah I guess you could say that" Minato replied before grunting and falling down to one knew.

Naruto was shocked by this, he rushed to his father, "Dad what's wrong? Are you aright?" he asked.

Minato sighed as he felt his chakra depleting, as much as he loved this time with his son he knew this couldn't last forever, "Naruto I'm running out of chakra, I have to go soon unfortunately" he said in a dejected tone.

Naruto's eyes widen in panic, "What? Can't you stay any longer? I've just met you, I don't want you to leave so soon" he said.

"I'm sorry Naruto but our time is running up, I have a couple minutes left with you at most. Before I leave Naruto, I just want to say one thing. I'm sorry for what I did and I'm sorry for everything that happened to you, before I died I wanted Konoha to see you as a hero but apparently that wasn't the case. Could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Naruto gazed at his father, "Don't worry dad I forgive you, I guess I can't stay mad at you, you are my hero after all. I still can't believe that you're actually my dad, and I'm happy and proud to be your son" he said in a sincere tone.

Minato smiled warmly at his son, "Naruto you have no idea how much that means to me, I couldn't ask for a better son. I only wish I could have been there to raise you. To this day that is my only regret. I just wish you didn't have to suffer like you did" he replied.

"Don't worry dad it wasn't that bad, my life may not have been filled with butterflies and rainbows, but I still wouldn't change it for anything"

Minato chuckled as he playfully ruffled his son's spiky blonde hair, "Before I go Naruto there is one last thing I must do. I need to redo the seal, though I must warn you son, this will be the last time I can do this. Naruto, lift your shirt" he ordered.

Naruto did as he was asked, the Yondaime faced the young genin and the seal on his stomach. Minato then plunged his hand into the seal and twisted it effectively repairing and fixing the weakened seal. Once the job was done Minato stood back up to face Naruto, but this time with a stern expression.

"Naruto, remember that this will be the last time I will be able to do this. The next time the fox offers an arrangement like this, please just refuse it. No matter what do not release the Kyuubi from the seal" he scolded.

The young genin looked down in shame, "I'm sorry dad but I was just so desperate. I just wanted to protect my friends from that snake freak, I don't think I could have done it without having to use the Kyuubi's power" he said apologetically.

"I'm not saying don't use the Kyuubi's power, the seal I placed on you allows you to do that and if in dire circumstances you should use it. All I'm saying is that don't go any further than that and beware of the consequences of your actions. I understand why you did what you did and I know that your intentions were good, but you have to realize the negative effects this power may have, just don't abuse this power Naruto"

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, but before he could reply his father began to slowly fade away. Their time was close to finishing, Naruto was feeling saddened by the fact that after this he would never see his father again. There was still so much he wanted to tell him.

Minato saw his son's dejected face, "Don't worry son, I may not have long left but at least I can finally leave happy, before I leave forever please remember my advice Naruto" he said.

"I will dad, I promise that I will surpass you and will be the Hokage just like you. I promise to stop relying on the fox's power and I promise to earn my own strength to beat that Madara teme's ass for what he did"

"I know you will Naruto, you are destined for greatness. Me and your mother will watch you from up above, we'll watch you grow into a great Hokage and an even greater man. We have complete faith in you Naruto"

A large smile adorned Naruto's face, "Dad can you please do me one favour?" he asked.

"Sure son, what is it?"

"When you go and meet mom, please tell her that I love her as well"

Minato smiled and nodded, "Don't worry son, I'll make sure she gets the message" he said as a blinding light began to engulf the two, "It looks like my time is up, Konoha is in your hands now Naruto. Make us proud son"

* * *

 **Forest of Death**

Orochimaru slowly walked closer and closer to the blonde boy's unconscious body, so far he had proven to be quite a challenge for him. The Snake Sannin was actually quite impressed with the young blonde, if he hadn't already marked Sasuke then he would also consider Naruto. The young boy showed immense promise and it seemed to be a waste to simply kill him right then and there.

But as Orochimaru neared the unconscious Jinchuuriki, a squadron of ANBU operatives quickly jumped down onto the area, and leading that group of ANBU was none other than Anko Mitirashi herself, Orochimaru's former apprentice.

"Orochimaru, I've finally found you. Prepare to pay for what you did" she yelled in rage. Anko rushed towards the Snake Sannin with the intent to kill.

Orochimaru knew that he was outnumbered in this scenario and he knew it was foolish to try and fight his way out. With no other alternative left, he decided it was best for him to flee for now.

"I'm sorry Anko-chan but I'm not ready to die yet" he hissed before throwing two smoke bombs onto the floor.

Anko and the rest of the ANBU unit was covered and blinded by the smoke, but once all the smoke cleared they began to check and search the area for any signs of Orochimaru.

"Fuck, the bastard got away" cursed Anko, she had been waiting for Orochimaru to pop up again so that she could finally get her revenge, but unfortunately for her she failed to capitalize at the most opportune moment.

"Anko-san" a voice called out breaking Anko from her train of thought, she turned back to face an ANBU operative, "we found three Konoha genin here, all of them severely injured. They are in dire need of medical attention"

Anko nodded, "Show them to me right away" she ordered.

"Hai" said the ANBU operative.

Anko was soon led to a tree stump and there she found three unconscious genin being carried by ANBU officers. She walked closer and examined the three, she recognized them as Kakashi's students.

"Anko-san, we also found a strange mark on Sasuke-san's neck" said another ANBU officer.

The snake mistresses' eyes widened in fear, "Where is it?" she asked frantically.

The ANBU officer carrying Sasuke appeared in front of her, and he showed her the strange mark on Sasuke's neck, Anko's complexion paled at the sight of the mark.

Her fists clenched and she grinded her teeth in anger, 'So this is your game you snake bastard. Inflicting this shit on me wasn't enough, you had to go and place it on the last Uchiha. You are one sick bastard Orochimaru' she thought to herself.

She shook her head from these thoughts, at the moment the three genin had to be her main priority, she turned to face the ANBU operatives one more, "Bring them all into the infirmary also call the Hokage and Kakashi Hatake, they'll want to see about this" she ordered in a no nonsense tone.

"Anko-san at the moment these three are participants in the Chunin Exams, we aren't allowed to help them" an ANBU operative pointed out.

Anko simply glared at that officer causing him to gulp nervously, "These three just went up against a Sannin and lived to tell the tale, the Chunin Exams should be the last thing in their minds after that" she hissed.

The ANBU operatives all decided not to argue further with the torture specialist, instead they followed her orders and carried the three genin into the hospital for treatment.

Anko was now left all alone, her mind was still plagued with thoughts about Orochimaru's return.

"Damn you Orochimaru, I promise the next time you show yourself here you will not escape. Next time I will finish the job"

* * *

 **Konoha Hospital**

The Sandaime Hokage arrived in the hospital with Kakashi Hatake beside him, the two rushed here as soon as they heard the news from the ANBU officers. After speaking to the receptionist, the two quickly made their way to the room where the three genin were held.

Upon entering the room they were greeted by the sight of three severely injured genin all laying on a hospital bed, around them were doctors, ANBU operatives and of course Anko.

Hiruzen approached the snake mistress first, "Anko, give me your report" he ordered in an authoritative tone.

Anko nodded her head in accordance, "Hokage-sama I regret to inform you but the one responsible for this attack was none other Orochimaru" she said causing both Kakashi and Hiruzen to flinch.

Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock, "Are you sure about this Anko? What is he doing here?" he asked.

"I am certain Hokage-sama, I saw the son of a bitch with my own two eyes. Orochimaru is here in Konoha, as for the reason if I had to guess it would be for the Uchiha. I examined the wounds and injuries on the three genin, both blondie and pinkie were injured but they'll live. The Uchiha on the other hand he was marked with a Curse Seal, the same one given to me by Orocochimaru"

Both Kakashi and the Hokage were shocked by this, "Anko show it to me now" Hiruzen said.

Anko nodded her head and led the two towards Sasuke's hospital bed, the doctors decided not to stop them seeing as how the Hokage himself wanted to see it with his own eyes.

The snake mistress slightly pulled down the collar on Sasuke's hospital robes, Hiruzen and Kakashi were then given an excellent view of the curse seal inflicted on the young boy.

'Why must you walk down this dark path Orochimaru? Whatever happened to that young boy I trained' Hiruzen thought to himself.

"Hokage-sama, I'm sure you also felt the Kyuubi's chakra earlier today. If I had to guess I would say that Naruto had no other choice but to turn to the fox's power if they really went up against Orochimaru" Kakashi pointed out.

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "I think you may be right Kakashi, I can't think of any other possible explanation for the Kyuubi's chakra" he muttered in reply.

"So what should we do now Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked.

The Sandaime sighed, "I'll need to inform the council about this soon, but we should try to keep this information away from the public, I don't want to start a mass panic in Konoha" he answered.

"Anko, how about Naruto and Sakura? What are the extent of their injuries?" Kakashi questioned.

"Blondie was found all bruised, bloodied and his clothes were all tattered. Luckily for him though, his major injuries and wounds were healed quickly by the Kyuubi. At the moment the kid's fine he's only suffering from chakra exhaustion, from the three of them he came out the least hurt but he'll probably be a bit sore when he wakes up"

"And Sakura?"

"As for pinkie, she was found with multiple wounds and bruises in her body. Thankfully once more no vital injuries but there was a peculiar wound found on her right forearm. It was a severe chakra burn, and I think we all know where it came from"

Kakashi grimaced underneath his mask, 'If Naruto learns about this he'll go into a depression. But I wonder, with the cat already out of the bag how will Sasuke or Sakura react to Naruto. I hope they won't take after the village's short sightedness' he inwardly told himself.

Anko then decided to press on to another importance issue, "Hokage-sama there is another issue, it's about Team Seven's validity to the next stage of the Chunin Exams. Technically we aren't allowed to interfere in what happens in this stage of the exams. At the moment the rules say that these three should be disqualified" she explained.

As much as she hated to question Team Seven's validity at a time like this, it was part of her job as the proctor of the second exams.

"Anko I think we could give them a pass this one time, because ordinarily you shouldn't have to face an S-Rank missing ninja in your Chunin Exams. Besides the council are going to demand to have Sasuke placed in the next stage of the Chunin Exams anyway. When they wake up we'll give them the choice whether they still want to continue or not"

"Very well Hokage-sama" she said with a respectful salute to the Hokage.

"Knowing Naruto and Sasuke, there's no way in hell those two are sitting out from the next stage" said Kakashi.

"Anko, Kakashi for now I'll also need the both of you to work on Sasuke's curse seal. I plan on messaging Jiraiya to return but unfortunately it'll take him at least a week to journey back. I plan on having him inspect and study the seal, but at the moment while he's unavailable you two need to try and suppress the seal as much as possible" Hiruzen ordered.

The Jonin and Tokubetsu Jonin both nodded their heads, "Hai Hokage-sama" they said in unison.

Without saying another word, Hiruzen simply disappeared leaving a plume of smoke. He needed to return to work as soon as possible, everything for him just seemed to be going wrong. As if he wasn't stressed and busy enough with the Chunin Exams being held in Konoha, now he also had to worry about Orochimaru's return to the village he betrayed.

* * *

 **Hokage's Office**

The Sandaime reappeared in his office. The old Hokage slowly walked over to his desk and pulled out a large piece of paper. He quickly began to write a letter intended for Jiraiya, it was a brief letter which revolved around Naruto, Sasuke and Orochimaru. Then once he was finished writing his letter, he summoned one of his messenger apes to deliver the letter to Jiraiya.

With the brief letter finished and sent, the old Hokage laid back at his seat with an audible groan. The old Hokage ran his wrinkled hand across his diminishing hair, today was not a good day in the life of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Slowly, the Hokage stood up from his seat and he walked over to the large window in his office. It gave him a clear view on the Hokage Monument, Hiruzen couldn't help but sigh as his gaze fell on the fourth face on the mountain.

'Minato, you should be sitting in this seat rather than me. You were so young and you had so much promise, sometimes I wonder how things might have been had you and Kushina lived. Would you have gone through the things I have gone through? Or would you have found a way around them?' he thought to himself.

"But I think one thing is clear though, I'm getting too old for this shit"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Chapter 2 is finished, I hope you guys liked it. I'm sorry if it was a bit brief but like I said earlier, I'll make sure to lengthen the chapters in the future. For now I need to establish the story and plot first before I get to the story driven scenes. Anyway thanks for reading and please favourite, comment and follow the story, every little bit helps. Also if you guys have any suggestions, questions or opinions about my story then feel free to leave a comment, or if you want you can also just pm me. Thanks everyone and I hope you guys liked it.


	3. Big Shoes to Fill

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Here is Chapter 3 for you guys, the plot for the story is finally unveiled later on. Also the pairing for this story will be NaruSaku; this is just a small heads up for you guys. My other stories may be negotiable for the pairing, but this one is strictly NaruSaku. My plan for this is to have a NaruSaku/MinaKushi parallel; I was really disappointed that the manga didn't expand on this much more. But if you guys are interested in the pairings for my other story, God of Shinobi, please head over to my profile to vote on the poll I created. While you're there at my profile please also check out my three other stories, I found the time to update all my stories. If you haven't read them yet then I'd love it if you guys gave it a try.**

 **Anyway thanks everyone for the support, please favourite and follow this story if you haven't already, and if you have any questions or suggestions then leave a comment or send me a message. Thanks again for reading my stories and I hope you guys like chapter three.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3:Big Shoes to Fill**

Naruto's blue eyes flickered open, the young blonde inspected the area surrounding him and soon he realized he was in a hospital room. The last thing Naruto remembered was meeting his father, and when that happened he was certain that he was still at the Forest of Death.

"Ah I see your finally awake Naruto" said a familiar voice.

Naruto's head quickly turned to the source of the voice, his vision was still slightly blurry but after a while it began to clear up and there stood the Hokage with Kakashi Hatake by his side.

"Kakashi-sensei, gramps what happened? Why am I here?" he asked frantically.

"Don't you remember what happened?" Kakashi asked in reply.

"I do remember everything, Orochimaru attacked us. What happened to Sakura-chan and the teme? Are they safe?" he asked in a panic.

"Don't worry Naruto, they're safe, they're both on the rooms beside yours" assured Kakashi.

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief, "So what happened to Orochimaru?" he asked.

"Unfortunately Naruto, Orochimaru escaped. I sent an ANBU squad to assist you three but Orochimaru anticipated their arrival. He fled the scene before anything serious happened"

Okay then, so how is Sasuke and Sakura-chan?"

"They're both doing well, Sasuke is still unconscious after the fight with Orochimaru but Sakura is already awake. She's just recuperating in her room" Kakashi replied.

"That's good at least they're both alright"

"Naruto is it alright if we ask you a few questions about that day?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto nodded, "No problem" he replied.

"Do you know why Orochimaru attacked you three?"

"Yeah he was there for Sasuke" he answered, "He wanted something from the teme"

Hiruze nodded in understanding, "While you were at the Forest of Death I felt the fox's chakra, I assume that the fox intervened in your battle against Orochimaru. So how did you suppress the Kyuubi's chakra? From what I felt you were probably in the higher stages of the transformation"

Naruto smiled brightly at the two, "I met the Yondaime Hokage, he's the one who stopped me from becoming the Kyuubi" he replied.

Both Kakashi and Hiruzen stared at Naruto with widened eyes, "You met Minato?" Hiruzen asked in disbelief to which Naruto nodded.

Kakashi chuckled softly as he ruffled Naruto's hair, "What did the Yondaime tell you Naruto? Fathers usually have a lot of things to say to their sons" he exclaimed.

"He told me that he had faith in me"

Kakashi gave Naruto a thumps up, "

Hiruzen smiled at the young blonde, "Minato even in death he still manages to save Konoha" said the Hokage, "Naruto I'm sorry you weren't told of this sooner. I wanted to tell you about your heritage but the Namikaze name is a dangerous one. Minato's actions in the previous war earned him many enemies and I didn't want to associate you with that name until you were ready. The plan was to tell you when you reached either eighteen years of age or Jonin status"

"Save it jiji" Naruto replied in a serious tone, "What's done is done and I understand. At first I was hurt and angry but my dad told me to understand your point of view, and I guess you were just looking out for me. So in a way I have to be the one thanking you"

"Naruto there is another question we need to ask you" interjected Kakashi, "Do you want to continue on with the Chunin Exams. After your fight with Orochimaru we'd understand if you didn't"

Naruto stared at the two in disbelief, "Did you actually just ask me that? Of course I'm continuing these exams, there is no way in hell I'm quitting now" he yelled.

"I thought so. In that case Naruto I suggest you rest up for now, the next stage is scheduled to begin in a couple of days and you'll need to be at your best when that day comes" Kakashi suggested.

Naruto gave his masked sensei a mock salute, "You got it Kakashi-sensei" he exclaimed.

"But before that could I check up on Sakura-chan and the teme, I need to see how they're both doing"

A small frown appeared underneath Kakashi's mask, "I don't think that's wise Naruto" he said in a hushed and cautious tone.

Naruto raised a single eyebrow out of surprise, "Why not?" he asked.

"I don't know how to say this Naruto, but when Sakura was found, she had burn marks on her right arm's wrists. Burn marks that can only come from intense chakra"

Naruto's eyes widened in realization, "The fox's chakra?" he mumbled to himself.

"Exactly, Sakura's other injuries haven't been too severe but she has asked specifically asked the hospital not to allow you into her room" Kakashi explained.

The young blonde looked down in shame, "I hurt her" he muttered softly, "She's scared of me"

The masked Jonin frowned watching his student sulk, he placed a comforting hand on the young boy's shoulders, "Just give her some time Naruto. She needs to recover from this in her own time, if you see her now then you may just jeopardize things. Allow her to solve this problem herself" he advised with a sage like wisdom.

Hiruzen nodded in agreement, "He's right Naruto, time heals all wounds and just let her figure this one out herself. I'm confident that she'll forgive you eventually, you just need to prove everyone that you're not the fox, show them that you're Naruto Uzumaki"

"Naruto in a way this is a sign for you, stop relying on the Kyuubi's powers. It's time that you gained your own, if you could gain your own power then things like this may be avoidable. It's time to take things seriously Naruto, find your own strength" said Kakashi.

The young genin nodded in understanding, his hands gripped the sheets of his bed, "I'm going to be stronger than ever before, I'm going to be stronger than my dad. I refuse to let the fox take over again; I refuse to hurt my friends again. This time I will protect them" he declared with an impassioned tone.

* * *

 **Two Days Later**

All twenty of the remaining participants stood proudly on the arena for the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams, there was supposed to be one other participant but Kabuto Yakushi chose to forfeit due to the injuries he sustained in the previous test.

Upon the stands of the arena stood the teams' respective Jonin, this included the likes of Kakashi, Kurenai, Might Guy, Asuma and Baki, but among them was another Jonin sensei, he didn't say much nor did he introduce himself. He was simply known as the Jonin instructor of Team Dosu.

Kakashi couldn't tell why, but he had a strange feeling about this Jonin. He felt familiar for some reason.

Back down on the arena, Naruto stood alongside his fellow participants. In front of them was a sickly looking Tokubetsu Jonin explaining the rules of this stage, he went by the name of Hayate Gekko. The young blonde couldn't necessarily pay attention to him or his rules; he chose to instead study and examine the rest of the competition.

There were familiar faces from the academy, there was Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji and Ino, among them Naruto only really found Kiba and Shino as the possible challenges. Hinata seemed too meek for him, for some strange reason she always seemed to faint when she was around him.

Then there were the three members of Team Ten, Shikamaru seemed too lazy for his own good, Choji was too nice to fight, the young Akimichi couldn't hurt a fly. Then there was Ino, she was too preoccupied with looking good for Sasuke, Naruto was certain that she was probably an easy opponent to fight.

But the rest of the participants were an anomaly for Naruto, he had seen Rock Lee fight Sasuke earlier on in the exams, but aside from that one fight that was all he knew of him.

Among all the contestants, the one that piqued Naruto's interest the most was the redhead with the gourd on his back. Throughout the explanations, the Suna ninja had been staring at Naruto, the young blonde chose to ignore it but he couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by his sinister glare. It was similar to a predator stalking his prey.

Naruto directed his attention to the other participants in the room, once he was done with the competition he stared at his two teammates. Sasuke seemed distant to him, at least much more distant than usual. There was something about him that was different, Sasuke tended to be anti-social and detached, but not like this.

Then there was Sakura, the pinkette stood just beside him and from what he saw she was trembling in her boots. Naruto inwardly sighed, he couldn't blame her, the Kyuubi was a frightening and intimidating being and she was attacked by it. Naruto only wished that he could have been stronger to prevent it, but as much as he wanted to approach her and apologize he knew it was best for him to listen to Kakashi and the Hokage's advice. She needed time.

Naruto was soon broken from his thoughts as he heard Hayate raise his voice, "Alright then it's time to start the preliminary round. The first fight will be Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado" he yelled.

* * *

 **Later That Day**

After ten whole fights the preliminary stages were concluded, there had been many notable battles among the genin, one of which being Rock Lee versus Gaara of the Sand, though this battle was notable in a negative way. Gaara ended as the victor, with Rock Lee as the loser, but the injuries sustained by Lee threatened the young man's ninja future, it was unclear if he would ever be able to move again.

Another notable battle was Neji's fight versus his cousin Hinata, much like the previous battle this too was notable in a negative way. The fight had Neji nearly kill his own cousin, much to Naruto's anger. The meek and shy Hinata was left bloodied and barely breathing after the beating she took from her cousin.

Team Seven had their own unique battles as well, Sasuke had the honour of fighting first in the preliminaries and he dispatched his opponent Yoroi Akado with ease. Naruto on the other hand had a much more difficult fight; the energetic blonde was paired up against his friend and rival back at the academy, Kiba Inuzuka. The two dead lasts of the academy fought long and hard, but in the end Naruto ended up as the victor, Naruto only had his deceptiveness and creativity to thank for that victory. Then finally there was Sakura, the pinkette's opponent was none other than her former best friend and current rival Ino Yamanaka. Despite their obvious lack of skill and strength, the two of them still managed to put up quite a good and entertaining fight which ended with a draw.

The rest of the fights were relatively quick and standard, nothing too entertaining about them. Shikamaru was paired up with one of the Otogakure genin, Kin Tsuchi and the lazy Nara won the battle thanks to his intelligence and tactical superiority.

Another fight had Zaku Ubimi of Team Dosu up against Shino Aburame of Team Kurenai, the latter ended up as the winner of the fight. The final member of Team Dosu, which was Dosu himself, won his own fight against Choji Akimichi.

Then finally there was the two remaining Sand Siblings, both Kankuro and Temari won their individual battles with ease, Tenten didn't even pose as a threat to Temari, her wind techniques easily dispatched and countered the bun haired girl's weapon based techniques. Kankuro was also undeniably the winner of his own fight against Misumi Tsurugi.

With the final participants remaining, all ten of the winners stood on back at the centre of the arena. Every one of them was standing tall and proud. The group consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Neji Hyuga, and Dosu Kinuta.

Hayate stood in front of the group, "First of congratulations for passing this round, but now the real test begins. For the next month you will be given a break which you may use to train, the next stage of the Chunin Exams will have you pitted up against each other in a tournament. I suggest you all prepare yourselves for the finals, there's no telling what will happen" he said.

Hayate then walked over to each of the ten genin, he handed them each one random piece of paper.

"On the paper I gave you is a number, this will determine the fights for the next stage. Now tell me who has numbers one and two"

Sasuke and Neji both raised their hands, Hayate glanced at the two and nodded, "Interesting a battle between this year's Rookie of the Year against last year's Rookie of the Year. You two will have the first battle" he announced.

"Now how about three and four"

The next to raise their hands were Shikamaru Nara and Temari, Hayate nodded and jotted this down on his small notebook.

"What about five and six?"

This time it was Kankuro and Shino's turn to raise their hands, "The insect manipulator versus the puppet master, interesting indeed" Hayate muttered softly.

"Who has numbers seven and eight?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard his number called, the young blonde raised his hand, and the only other person to raise their hand was Gaara, the same redhead staring at him earlier that day, the same person who practically crippled Rock Lee.

Naruto gulped nervously as he saw the blood thirsty grin on his opponent's face, 'Oh kami from everyone I get paired with it had to be that guy' he thought to himself.

"That leaves number nine, because there can only be two people fighting at once you will allowed a free pass onto the round after" Hayate said as Dosu grinned triumphantly and nodded.

"Now with the fights for the finals finally chosen, I will give you all the rules for the next stage. It won't vary much from this one but it will be a much more different experience altogether, and I speak from experience" said the sickly Jonin.

* * *

 **Hokage's Booth**

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Hayate lecture the genin about the rules, he stayed at his own personal booth to watch the battles and he was both impressed and appalled by what he saw. This year's Chunin Exams has had its fair share of ups and downs so far, but the Hokage was disappointed at how some of the genin acted Neji and Gaara in particular.

To be honest, the Hokage was slightly worried for Naruto after seeing Gaara's battle against Rock Lee. Hiruzen remained confident in Naruto's skills but that did nothing to ease his worries, the way Gaara simply destroyed his opponent made the Hokage nervous.

He knew just how much being a ninja meant to Naruto, and if he sustained the same injuries and damage as Rock Lee did just then, then maybe a ninja's life may no longer be possible for Naruto.

The Hokage was soon broken from his thoughts as he heard a small voice call out to him.

"Hokage-sama I bring you a letter" it said.

Hiruzen blinked repeatedly and searched the booth for the source of the voice, "Down here" it said, the old Hokage turned to the floor and there he found a messenger toad with a letter at hand.

Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly, 'A toad, this must mean Jiraiya has information for me' he thought to himself.

The toad jumped up to the Hokage's lap, he handed him the letter and saluted respectfully before disappearing with a plume of smoke.

Hiruzen grabbed the letter and read its contents. The message itself was short, simple and to the point, Jiraiya was seeking an audience with the Hokage at his office later that day. Apparently he held vital information for Konoha, and apparently Naruto and Sasuke were both involved in at least one of the dilemmas.

Once the Hokage finished reading through the brief letter, he used a simple Katon jutsu to burn it. He turned his attention back to the genin standing in the arena; it seems they were all heading back to their respective Jonin instructors. Hiruzen examined the area in search of Kakashi, it was probably best if he was included in the meeting with Jiraiya, after all his two students had something to do with the news.

* * *

 **With Kakashi**

The masked Jonin stood proudly in front of his two students, "You two did well and I'm proud of you two. Sakura as well but unfortunately she's recovering in one of the infirmaries" he said.

Naruto raised his hand for a question, "Sensei are you going to train us for the month long break?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes and no, I can only train one of you for the break" he said but before he could continue the Hokage appeared by his side.

"Hey jiji" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Hiruzen smiled softly at the young boy before turning back to Kakashi, "You need to come with me, we have a meeting to attend" he said.

Kakashi raised his lone visible eyebrow, "A meeting?" he asked.

The Hokage nodded his head, "Yes it is of the utmost importance, I'll see you there soon" he replied before vanishing once more.

Naruto turned to his rival, "Sasuke what was that about?" he asked, the young Uchiha shrugged his shoulders as a response.

The masked Jonin turned back to his two students, "It looks like I'm needed elsewhere for now, just meet me at the usual training ground tomorrow at noon and then we'll discuss your training for the month" he said.

The two genin nodded in understanding as they watched Kakashi also vanish leaving a plume of smoke from where he stood.

* * *

 **Hokage's Office**

As soon as Kakashi arrived in the office, the masked Jonin noticed the two chakra signatures in the room. One clearly belonged to the Hokage, but the other had a familiar signature. Kakashi turned to the source and he was surprised to see the Toad Sannin himself, Jiriaya.

"Jiraiya-sama it is good to see you" Kakashi greeted politely.

The Toad Sannin nodded, "It's good to see you Kakashi you've grown since I last saw you" he said.

"Jiraiya please tell us about your findings" ordered the Hokage.

The Toad Sannin nodded as his expression quickly turned serious, "Unfortunately I come here bearing bad news. Konoha is in danger" he said in a solemn tone.

Hiruzen had a questioning stare directed at his student, "In danger? What do you mean by that?" The Hokage asked frantically.

"There are three forces working against Konoha at the moment, one is the Akatsuki. They plan on mobilizing in three years and they plan on coming for Naruto soon" he answered.

Hiruzen clenched his jaw in frustration, 'They will be going after the fox soon; dammit Naruto must be prepared for when the time comes' he thought to himself.

Kakashi clenched his fists, 'They're after my student? Over my dead body' he inwardly told himself.

"What else can you tell me Jiraiya?"

"The Akatsuki may be a threat in later years but the moment we have a threat right now, I was given reports about Orochimaru. Apparently he has been spotted near Sunagakure"

"Suna you say?" asked Hiruzen.

The Toad Sannin nodded, "Hai sensei Orochimaru is involved with Sunagakure that much I am certain, be wary of them" he warned, "My spies also informed me that Orochimaru is also planning something against Konoha, he may attack sooner or later"

"Jiraiya-sama, Orochimaru attacked during the second stage of the Chunin Exams. He attacked my team and he inflicted Sasuke with his Curse Seal" said Kakashi.

Jiraiya sighed in frustration, "It is what I feared, according to my spies Orochimaru is in search of a new body, and knowing his obsession for the Sharingan it wouldn't surprise me if he did choose Sasuke" he said.

"This is troublesome; we need to prepare immediately for this attack. We must take precautions" Kakashi pointed out.

"I agree Kakashi, I'll assemble the other Jonin of Konoha and begin to set up Konoha's defences" replied the Hokage, "Jiraiya is there anything else you need to add?"

Jiraiya reluctantly nodded, "Unfortunately there is one final thing, and quite frankly the other two may pale in comparison to this" he said, Hiruzen and Kakashi stared at the Toad Sannin awaiting the information.

"Well what is it Jiraiya? Spit it out" scolded the Hokage.

The Toad Sannin sighed in defeat, "I travelled across the five nations and I learned a few things here and there, from what I've learned Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure formed an alliance, and they are preparing for war" he declared.

"Why would they prepare for war? We are at a time of peace" Hiruzen stated.

"Their goal is apparently to exact revenge on Konoha, the wounds from the past war have yet to heal for those nations. The events of the Third Shinobi World War are still fresh in their minds, and honestly it doesn't surprise me one bit. Onoki and A seems like the type of people to hold grudges"

Hiruzen's eyes widen in shock, "You're not lying are you? This may really happen?" he asked in a hushed and disbelieving tone.

Jiraiya shook his head, "I wish I was sensei but at this point a war is inevitable, and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not that confident in our chances. Since the last war most of our great ninjas have either passed away, retired, grown frail and old, some even went rogue, and others sustained heavy injuries affecting their ninja careers. We lack the S-Rank ninjas who could put us over the top, we don't have a Minato anymore, and we don't have a Tsunade, or an Orochimaru, or a Sakumo. Most of them are gone" he replied.

Hiruzen adopted a thinking pose, Jiraiya was right that they lacked the same class and power of previous ninja generations; they didn't have the same generational talents they did in generations past. The only way they were surviving this war was to bank on to the next generation's abilities, they were the only ones who could possibly save them now. If they could reach their full potential, then Konoha may just return to their former glory, they may just find it in themselves to win.

"Jiraiya, what if we create a new generation of world class ninjas. The potential is there, the only thing we need to do is nurture that potential. If we could do that then we may just have the power necessary to combat our opponents"

The toad Sannin stared at his sensei in disbelief, "Sensei we do not have the luxury of time, we cannot just wait for this young generation to come and save us. What we need is instant gratification" he swiftly replied.

"Jiraiya as you said a while ago we do not have the same military power as we did, it may have been fifteen years from the war but we are all still recovering from it. Do you know how many years we have before the three of them begin their attack?"

"Yeah probably around three to five years"

"Then that is more than enough time to train and nurture the youth, we will need them to step up if we are to win this war"

"Jiraiya-sama, I agree with the Hokage. I believe in Konoha's future generation, my team has potential to become great" Kakashi interjected.

"Jiraiya, you haven't been back here in Konoha for years. While you were away I've seen this future generation grow before my eyes, genin such as Naruto and Sasuke have shown promise. They could be the ones to win this war for us. Minato almost singlehandedly won us the last war, unfortunately Minato is no longer with us today, but we do have the next best thing. We have Naruto, his own flesh and blood. If anyone had the potential to reach Minato's heights or even surpass Minato, then it's Naruto" Hiruzen passionately declared.

"Sensei are you sure about this? Could they really win us this war? Minato was my greatest student; there was nothing he couldn't do"

"I know Jiraiya; I know he was my successor after all. If anyone could replicate Minato's success its Naruto, if you train him to reach his full potential then the limits are endless. Naruto could be this generation's Minato, he could be the one who would win this war for us" Hiruzen said, "That's why I want the two of you to personally train Naruto, start training him for the month and gauge his potential yourselves. I believe in him and Minato believes in him"

Jiraiya and Kakashi both nodded, "Alright then sensei, I'll check the kid out myself. What do you want me to teach him?" asked Jiraiya.

Hiruzen shrugged both his shoulders, "You two decide, you were Minato's teacher after all Jiraiya. As for you Kakashi, you were Minato's prized student, if any two people were to teach Minato's own son then it would have to be you two" he replied, "Oh and just as a heads up Jiraiya, Naruto is already aware of the fox and of his heritage" Hiruzen added on.

Jiraiya's eyes widen in shock, he expected him to learn about the fox quite early on but he didn't think he would learn about his heritage so quickly, "How does he know? I'm pretty sure he's not a Jonin yet, and I'm certain he's still twelve"

"Jiraiya-sama do you remember about Orochimaru's attack on the Forest of Death" Kakashi asked as the Toad Sannin nodded his head, "Well during that fight the Kyuubi was beginning to control Naruto, but before Naruto reached all nine tails, Naruto tells us that Minato-sensei appeared in his subconscious and stopped the Kyuubi"

The Toad Sannin placed a hand underneath his chin, "It seems Minato may have added a bit of his chakra to the seal, honestly this does not surprise me one bit. Minato was always the cautious type" he said.

"Exactly, during that time Naruto apparently spoke with Minato-sensei and obviously he soon learned of his heritage from him" explained Kakashi,

Jiraiya nodded in understanding, "I see at least this makes things easier, I was never too good at explaining things anyway" he replied.

Kakashi then turned to the Hokage, "Excuse me Hokage-sama, but I must ask you who should train Sasuke? I was initially planning on taking Sasuke for the month to teach him how to properly use his Sharingan" he asked.

"How about Anko?"

"Anko?"

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes Anko, she could possibly teach Sasuke how to suppress and control his curse seal. At the moment he is susceptible to the seal's influence especially with his deep hatred for Itachi, Sasuke needs to learn how to control his dark urges and there is no other person in the village with this kind of experience other than Anko" he replied.

"I guess that makes sense, but what else could Anko teach him?"

"Have you forgotten about her affinity to fire and her snake summoning contract? Anko has a wealth of knowledge that she could pass on to Sasuke, and I believe she may be the right sensei for him at this point in time"

Kakashi nodded in understanding, "Alright I guess that could work out, I'll make sure to introduce him to her sometime tomorrow" he said.

"Kakashi, Jiraiya over the month I want you two to also occasionally check on Sasuke and his curse seal. I'm not expecting you two to remove but please try and counter its effects" said the Hokage.

"Hai Hokage-sama" "Hai sensei" they said.

Hiruzen then sighed in relief and clasped his hands, "I think we should conclude our meeting for now, make sure to keep this information private among us first. I'll make sure Konoha begins to prepare for the war and for Orochimaru's attack, you two should make sure that Naruto is prepared for what is to come. We will need him to be at his best"

"Of course Hokage-sama, I'm confident that my students will live up to their potential"

"You're placing quite a big bet on the kid, in my opinion he has big shoes to fill if you want him to surpass Minato. But I guess i'll give the kid a go, truth be told I did plan on taking him on as a student soon, I just didn't think it would be this soon"

Hiruzen nodded in understanding, "Alright then, both of you are dismissed" he said. The two high ranking ninjas nodded in return before quickly vanishing.

Hiruzen sighed once the two were gone, he walked over to the window of his office, the window held a great view of the Hokage's Monument. The Sandaime's eyes were glued on one of the four faces there, and it wasn't the one of his own, his gaze was directed at the face of his successor.

"Minato what would you do if you were in my place?"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hey everyone chapter three is done and dusted, sorry if the chapter was a bit all over the place this was one of the more difficult chapters for me to write believe it or not. But anyway the real action begins soon, the training will begin next chapter and the one after that will have the Chunin Exams, and it will have Naruto versus Gaara. Tell me what you guys think about this chapter, leave a comment or message me if you have any questions or suggestions. Please favourite and/or follow this story if you haven't yet, the support I get from you guys is awesome. Thanks again for reading my stories; I hoped you guys liked this chapter.


	4. Preparation Is Key

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Well I'm finally back to update this story, sorry for the long delay but as I've previously explained in my other stories. I've been busy with exams and I've been resting up and chilling back home with the family for my semester break, so I've been kind of laid back a bit. But now all that is done and I'm back ready to write some more again.**

 **Also if you haven't noticed yet my fourth story God of Shinobi is no longer around, I purposely deleted it because after returning to read the story once more I was a bit disappointed with how things went, and I want to just start over from scratch. Sorry to all those who enjoyed the story but don't worry I am currently working on revising the plan for that story and hopefully I'll have a new pilot chapter up sometime in the next few months. As the author of the story I was just not happy with how I wrote it, and so I just wanted to go over it again to make it better not just for me but also for you guys so I hope you understand why I deleted it.**

 **Anyway thanks everyone for the continuous support and patience, this chapter right here is more of a training montage chapter but the action is about to begin soon enough. Please continue to favourite and follow this story, and if you have any questions or suggestions then please leave a review or a private message to me. I welcome all forms of constructive criticism; it really helps me know what you guys want me to do, and what I could change in my stories to make them better.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Preparation is Key**

Both Naruto and Sasuke waited patiently by the team's usual training ground, Kakashi had told them to meet him but they should have expected him to be late. It had already been an hour since their assigned time and still there was no sign of Kakashi whatsoever.

After a few more minutes of waiting, a large puff of smoke suddenly appeared in the middle of the training ground, both Naruto and Sasuke turned their attention to the cloud of smoke knowing that their sensei had finally arrived, in a way it was his trademark entrance.

Kakashi walked out of the smoke and towards his two genin students, "Sorry I was late you two, there was a kid who was lost in the middle of the market district and I had to help him find his way back home" he explained.

Naruto and Sasuke turned to each other with looks of disbelief, they still couldn't believe that someone of Kakashi's age and status still tried these lame excuses, the two then turned to their sensei with the same neutral looks on their faces.

"Sensei you don't seriously expect us to believe that"

Sasuke nodded in agreement, "Yeah he's right, were not idiots" he added.

Kakashi sighed, "So they're finally learning" he mumbled softly. The masked Jonin then shook his head and straightened up, he directed his attention towards the Uchiha first and foremost; "Sasuke for the following month I've found the perfect teacher for you. Unfortunately I can't train you because I've decided to train Naruto this time" he said.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, he clenched his fists in anger and disappointment, and he wanted Kakashi to be his teacher for the month since he was only one capable of training him in his Sharingan.

"Kakashi-sensei, I need you to teach me. I'm going to be up against that Hyuga and he'll be armed with his Byakugan, I can outdo him with my Sharingan but I need your help to master it"

Kakashi nodded in understanding, "That is true Sasuke, but I've already trained you over Naruto and Sakura in the past. You were much more advanced than them at the time of our mission in Wave, and I taught you a few fire jutsus. It's Naruto's turn to learn some new skills, and as good as Neji is I believe that Gaara kid is probably a scarier opponent. Naruto will have to be at his best for that fight" he explained profusely.

Naruto smiled brightly, he was beginning to feel excited about his training with Kakashi. Sasuke on the other hand was growing in anger by the second, he wanted to answer back and continue to argue with the masked Jonin but Kakashi cut him off before he could so.

"You have nothing to worry about anyway Sasuke, your teacher for the next month is the perfect teacher for you at the moment. She could help you with some of your fire manipulation, she's quite knowledgeable on the element, and she also bears the same mark as you. She could help you resist and maybe even control the seal Orochimaru placed on you"

The blonde genin saw the anger in his teammate's eyes, he decided to walk over and place a hand on his shoulder, "Come on teme stop being so whiny about all this, I'm sure it won't be that bad" he said as a confident grin appeared on his face, "After all I'm expecting a challenging fight from you".

Sasuke turned to Naruto with an emotionless expression, he studied the face of his teammate and he could see that he was purposely trying to help him feel better the only way Naruto can. Soon he sighed in defeat, "Very well then, but this teacher better be as good as you say sensei" he said.

Kakashi smiled underneath the mask, despite how different the two of them were and despite how often they fought, they were definitely best friends. It really brought back memories for Kakashi, he was reminded of his days with Obito and Rin, of course Kakashi resembled Sasuke, Obito with Naruto, and Rin with Sakura. It was frightening just how similar these teams were despite the gap in their generations. It was even stranger knowing that Kakashi was training his sensei's own son.

"Don't worry Sasuke I'll personally vouch for her myself, to find her just head over to the Dango Shop in the middle of the market district, once there ask for a certain Anko Mitarashi. Tell her I sent you and then she'll begin your training. Though let me warn you she's a bit sadistic when it comes to training, but I'm sure you'll do fine Sasuke"

Naruto's eyes widened as he listened to Kakashi's explanation, "The Crazy Snake Lady from the Second Exam?" he yelled in shock.

Kakashi blinked a few times before nodding in confirmation, "Yeah now that you mention she was proctor of the second exam. Well at least that makes thing easier, now you know who to go look for Sasuke" he said.

Sasuke closed his eyes and massaged his temples, 'Why did it have to be her?' he thought to himself? Meanwhile Naruto stood beside Sasuke laughing loudly, he could barely control himself and Sasuke was finding it difficult to restrain himself from hitting his teammate.

"Good luck with the snake lady teme, Kami knows you'll need it" he laughed.

Sasuke scowled as he turned to Naruto, while Naruto was in his fits of laughter he grabbed the collar of his shirt and he pulled him to face him, "Listen to me dobe and listen to me good. You got lucky with your teachers so you better make it to the finals. Do you understand me? Anything less would be a disappointment, I'm hoping to see you there so that I could kick your ass in front of everybody" he hissed threateningly.

Naruto had a foxy grin on his face as he pushed Sasuke away from him, "Don't worry about me teme, worry about yourself because I guarantee you that I'll end up kicking your ass in the finals" he replied confidently.

Sasuke nodded with a smirk of his own, "Remember Naruto, its finals or bust. You claim to be my rival, well in that case I'd expect nothing less from my rival" he answered back.

The young blonde chuckled before extending his hand to Sasuke's, "Let's shake on it Sasuke, its finals or bust" he said.

The Uchiha extended his hand and the two rivals shook hands, "See you in a month dobe"

"Right back at you teme"

* * *

 **Konoha Hot Springs**

"Sensei what are we doing here? Shouldn't we start our training already?" whined Naruto.

"Patience Naruto, were looking for someone here. I won't be alone in training you for the next month, you'll be having a second teacher for the next month and I assure you he's a good teacher"

Before Naruto could answer back, the two began to hear a perverse giggle come from a bush just outside the fences of the hot springs.

"Ah speak of the devil" said Kakashi, "Come follow me Naruto, I'll introduce you to your other teacher"

The two walked closer to the suspicious bush and as they same closer the sound of giggling got louder and louder, until eventually they stood in front of the bush itself. Kakashi had a small smirk underneath his mask as he stared at the bush; he had to admit that Jiraiya had a knack of hiding himself in these sorts of things.

"Lord Jiraiya there's someone here to see you" he said.

Naruto watched in confusion as Kakashi seemingly spoke to a bush, but then out of nowhere a man suddenly appeared from inside the bush, Naruto jumped back in shock as he stared at the large white haired man.

"What the hell where did you come from you old man?" he yelled in shock, "Wait better yet what the hell are you even doing here? Oh Kami you're peeping aren't you? You big pervert"

The white haired man's eyes widened in fear as he began to hear high pitched shrieks come from the hot springs, he turned to the young blonde with an annoyed look.

"Dammit kid shut up I was working on some research for my books" he yelled in response.

"Research, what kind of research is this you sick pervert?" he asked before turning to Kakashi, "Sensei what are we even doing here with this creepy old man?"

Kakashi chuckled as he watched the two bicker, before the argument could continue he decided it was best to play as the peacemaker, "Actually Naruto he's the second teacher was talking about" he said in a casual tone.

"What? Why this guy?"

"Believe it or not Naruto Jiraiya-sama here is actually a great teacher. He trained your father"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the old man in disbelief, Jiraiya had a smug grin on his face as he watched the priceless expression on Naruto's face.

"That's right you little brat so work on your respect. I'm not just the Yondaime's sensei, I'm a member of the famed Sannin of Konoha, I'm the Sage of Mount Myoboku; I'm none other than Jiraiya the Gallant" he declared in an overdramatic fashion.

Naruto sweatdropped as he watched the old man toot his own horn, "Seriously sensei? This guy couldn't have been my dad's teacher, he doesn't look like much" he said.

Jiraiya scowled at Naruto's dismissal of him, "Shut up brat, I should be saying the same thing to you. I can't believe your my prized student's brat, you don't look like much either" he replied.

A tick mark formed on Naruto's forehead but before he could jump and attack the Sannin, Kakashi jumped in between them and stopped the two. Honestly Jiraiya may have been much older than him, but after seeing this he acted as if he was Naruto's age instead.

"Naruto calm down, looks can be deceiving and Jiraiya-sama here is one of the most powerful and renowned ninjas of Konoha and he's willing to train you for the next month. So I suggest for you not to get in his bad side seeing as how he is doing off his own free will, and also let's not waste any more time, we need to begin our training as early as possible" he explained calmly.

The young blonde understood Kakashi's explanation of the situation and thought that if the old man was as good as Kakashi said, and then he could really help him achieve his goal to become Hokage. And if this Jiraiya guy really trained his father, then he was probably a great teacher for him.

"Naruto yesterday Jiraiya-sama and I discussed your training schedule for the next month and both of us agreed that it was best if we kept our training outside of Konoha, we know of a spot just on the outskirts of Konoha where we'll have peace and privacy for our training. So I suggest for you to head back to your apartment and pack your bags, we'll meet you by the gates to begin your training"

The young blonde's anger and annoyance quickly dissipated upon the mention of his training, he nodded at his sensei before hastily running back home to begin his packing. Once Naruto was out of sight Jiraiya turned to look at Kakashi.

"How'd you get him to behave so easily?" he asked in amazement.

"It's really quite simple Jiraiya-sama, just mention training and he'll fall in line immediately. He may be a hyper and troublemaking kid, but he's a good kid at heart"

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, "Honestly after finally meeting after all these years, he sure does remind me of Kushina. He may look like Minato but he acts a lot like Kushina" he exclaimed.

Kakashi chuckled softly as memories of the redhead surfaced in his mind, "Yeah but he does have his moments. During a few missions when Naruto was serious, he actually reminded me a bit of sensei. During everyday life Naruto's just as loud and brash as Kushina-san, but I think eventually in time he'll learn to mellow things down, it'll come with a bit of maturing" he said.

"I guess you're right Kakashi, maybe in a little bit of time we may have another Minato in our hands. Hell, just looking at the kid I was reminded when I first met Minato as a genin, if you take off the whiskers the two are practically twins"

"Yeah but Naruto still has a long way to go before he reaches Minato-sensei's level. But I believe that if there's anyone who could surpass the Yondaime, it'll be Naruto"

Jiraiya raised a single eyebrow from that statement, Kakashi wasn't someone to make such bold claims like that, "I've trained Minato and I saw him grow before my very eyes. I watched him grow from being my genin to being my Hokage. I've had many great students but by far Minato was the very best, are you sure Naruto could reach that level? That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid".

Kakashi nodded, "I fully believe Naruto has what it takes. He may not seem like much at first but trust me when I say this, Naruto has a knack for making the impossible possible" he explained.

"I hope your right Kakashi because the future of Konoha rests on that boy"

* * *

 **A Few Hours Later**

Naruto had finished packing his things and he met up with his two teachers by the village gates, he still felt uncomfortable being around the old pervert but he trusted Kakashi's word for it, and if Kakashi said that he was a great teacher for him that he was going to trust his judgement, no matter how questionable it could be sometimes. Once they regrouped by the village gates the small made a small journey towards a thick forest just outside of Konoha. It took them roughly three hours to make it here, but once they arrived the group quickly set up their camp.

For the next month they were going to stay here in this forest with no distractions, their main focus was training Naruto and nothing else. The young blonde had to be at his best for what was to come not only for the Chunin Exams but also for the future.

Once all the preparations were complete, Naruto was led by the two to a forest clearing. This was the location they decided it was best to train Naruto.

Jiraiya and Kakashi towered over the young blonde; both now adopted solemn expressions as they faced their student. There was no time for fooling around.

"Naruto I know we got off the wrong foot but I need you to trust me. Do whatever Kakashi and I tell you to do; if you do then I promise you that you'll leave this forest a new man. You'll be able to do things you've never done before, and you'll be able to defeat opponents you wouldn't have been able to defeat before. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded eagerly as a response, Jiraiya saw the excitement and enthusiasm in the young boy and it really reminded him of himself back when he was Naruto's age.

"Kakashi told me that your dream was to be Hokage, is that correct?"

"Hai sensei"

"Good, Naruto I've been trained by the Sandaime Hokage and I've trained the Yondaime Hokage. I can help you become a Hokage in the future"

Naruto smiled brightly as he heard Jiraiya mention his affiliation with the two most recent Hokages. After hearing this and after seeing the man's serious side, he began to question his original view of Jiraiya. Maybe the old sage wasn't as bad as he initially thought, sure he may have been a peeping pervert, but from what he's heard so far the man was a great teacher and a great ninja. Naruto could learn a lot from the man.

Jiraiya then grabbed a large scroll from his bag; he threw it on the ground just in front of Naruto.

"Open the scroll kid" he ordered, Naruto did as he was told and upon opening the scroll a few things popped out of it. There were a few more scrolls inside, and there were even a few notebooks and books, and finally there was a set of strange looking three-pronged kunai.

"What are these things?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, these are some of Minato's old notes, scrolls, books and equipment. For the next month Kakashi and I decided to train you in your father's old techniques. There were three techniques we had in mind, that may not seem like much but trust me when I say this. Those three techniques basically won us the Third Shinobi World War" the Toad Sage explained.

"Whoa, what kind of techniques are those?" Naruto asked in complete awe.

Jiraiya raised a single finger, "I will be teaching you the first technique, it's called a summoning jutsu" he explained.

The mention of that jutsu brought a few memories back for Naruto, "Oh like the ones you used Kakashi-sensei? Didn't you summon dogs or something?" he asked the Jonin.

The Copy Nin gave his student a classic eye smile, "Yes and no Naruto. Jiraiya-sama will teach you the summoning jutsu but it won't be for the dogs. The dog summoning contract is for me, but JIraiya-sama will give you the toad summoning contract. It is the same summoning contract Minato-sensei used, and it is also one of the most powerful summoning contracts in the world" he explained.

Naruto raised a sceptical eyebrow, "Really, toads?" he asked.

Jiraiya nodded, "Yes the toads are very powerful but they are also very prideful. At the moment I act as the sage of the toad summons and I am also sole carrier of the toad summoning contract. I've never given this summoning contract to anyone other than Minato, but seeing as how you're his son I'm sure he would have wanted you to also have this summon" he said.

"I guess that makes sense, if the toads were good enough for dad then they're good enough for me"

Kakashi then raised two fingers, "Now Naruto the second jutsu will be taught by yours truly. Both Jiraiya-sama and I know how to use this technique, but he'll be too preoccupied with your summoning training. The second jutsu is an A-Rank jutsu created by sensei, it took him four whole years to create it but when he finished it, this jutsu wreaked absolute havoc. It's called the Rasengan"

"Could you show me the Rasengan?"

Kakashi nodded, "Of course I can" he said. The masked Jonin brought out his hand and he began to concentrate his chakra, soon a spiralling blue ball emerged in his hand, Naruto watched in awe as Kakashi ran to a nearby tree and used the Rasengan on it. The tree was hit by an enormous force causing the whole thing to uproot and fall.

Naruto stood up in shock as he watched the jutsu's damage; he didn't expect something so small to have such devastating damage.

"That's not even in its full power Naruto, I only used a quarter of its required chakra"

"That's only a quarter of its strength?" Naruto yelled in shock.

"Yes, and to be honest Naruto the Rasengan isn't even a complete jutsu. One thing Minato-sensei never accomplished was incorporating an element with the Rasengan, maybe one day you could achieve what he couldn't. But that'll be farther down the road, for now I will teach you how to form a Rasengan first"

"Okay, but how about the final technique?"

"Naruto I'm going to be honest with this one, the likeliness that you'll learn this technique is very slim. This technique is technically an S-Rank technique and this is what made your father famous, only two men in history have ever learned this technique and they were none other than the Nidaime and Yondaime Hokages. Even Kakashi and I don't know how to do this jutsu, but we understand the theory of it so we could help you in that regard. But all in all you'll have to teach yourself this jutsu yourself. But fear not, we found an excellent way to speed up the process for you"

Naruto's excitement was now through the roof, as if learning to summon or learning an A-Rank jutsu, now he was also being taught an S-Rank jutsu. This could seriously help him achieve his dream, if these were what made his father the Hokage, and then these could do the same for Naruto.

"How can we speed up the process?"

"I'm glad you asked Naruto" Kakashi replied with a smile underneath his mask, "This training method is actually unique only to you. You are the only one capable of doing this, your chakra reserves are already at a Kage level and you could already summon hundreds of shadow clones. Only you can summon hundreds of shadow clones without feeling tired, a normal person would have probably died of chakra exhaustion or something"

"What does my shadow clones have to do with this?"

"I'm guessing you never really noticed then. When shadow clones are dispelled, the knowledge they learned during their existence actually returns to the user, originally when the Nidaime Hokage created this technique the purpose was mainly for recon and information gathering, it was later on that they found a use for it in the battle field. So in a sense Naruto, we could use your clones to train with you and once you dispel them you will gain the knowledge that they learned thus speeding up the process of your training"

"What the hell? Why was I never told of this earlier?"

"Honestly Naruto I thought you would have noticed it earlier, especially with the amount of shadow clones you use in a daily basis" he answered truthfully, "But Naruto remember this though, this training method isn't perfect. It has its own flaws, and they are major flaws. When you train with clones make sure that when you do dispel them, do it slowly and not instantly. If you dispel a hundred clones in an instant after training, your brain will go into an overload from too much information at one time. Be sure to dispel them slowly to avoid any damages to your brain"

Naruto gulped nervously, that is definitely something Naruto should look out for, "Is there anything else I should know about this training method?" he asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah this training method doesn't help with your physical fitness and conditioning. It only relays information back to the brain and not to the body, so if you want to improve your strength or stamina, then you'll have to work on that yourself" he answered.

"I guess that makes sense" muttered Naruto, "So are using shadow clones for the first two jutsus as well?"

Kakashi shook his head this time, "Unfortunately Naruto the answer is no. You'll be using the shadow clones strictly for the third jutsu, the Hiraishin. But at the same time you will be learning other things for the next month, and you'll need your clones to help you with those things. Aside from the Hiraishin you will use your clones to work on Chakra Control, some Genjutsu defence, and some academic learning. If you really want to be Hokage you need to be strong and intelligent"

Naruto nodded in understanding, he didn't necessarily mind it considering it wasn't him who was going to be doing the studying. It was his clones.

"So what'll I personally work on?"

"You'll be working on some taijutsu, physical fitness, and those two jutsus we talked about. For the Summoning Jutsu it would cost you too much chakra to continually summon things so it would be for the best if you and only you stick to that. As for the Rasengan, this is simply something only you yourself could do. So you finally ready to start Naruto?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

* * *

 **With Sasuke**

The young Uchiha was hiding behind a tree in one of Konoha's training grounds, he was panting and out of breath. His training under Anko started with a survival training exercise where Anko hunted Sasuke down, and his objective was stay alive until she decided he'd proved that he was worthy of being her student.

So far Sasuke had done well but the snake mistress was definitely not holding back, she was out for blood, Sasuke's blood to be exact.

The Uchiha scowled as he recalled his sensei's words, 'Kakashi-sensei when you come back I'm so going to kill you for this' he silently thought to himself.

"Oh there you are"

Sasuke turned to glance behind the tree and there he found Anko breathing out another fireball, "Oh shit not this again" he muttered before running away from the tree.

'You'll pay for this Kakashi'

* * *

 **With Naruto**

The young blonde sat down in a private area with the Toad Sage, his clones were already in a different area working on the Hiraishin and those other things. While the original Naruto was scheduled to work on some summoning, for the next month Naruto was going to alternate between summoning training, Rasengan training, and then some fitness and taijutsu training. For now though he was stuck with Jiraiya for some summoning.

"Naruto we'll begin by having you sign the toad summoning contract" said Jiraiya, the toad Sannin then weaved through hand seals, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** "

A large puff of smoke appeared, and in the middle of the smoke was a large orange and blue toad. The toad had a scroll on its mouth; Naruto was amazed by the size of this toad. At first summoning toads sounded kind of lame for him, but after seeing how big the toads actually were he was beginning to feel excited about the prospect of summoning them.

The toad slowly lowered the scroll to Naruto; Jiraiya walked over to the scroll and opened it in front of Naruto. Upon being opened, Naruto quickly noticed the various red signatures and thumb marks around the summoning contract. He soon realized that the markings were actually signatures, and true to Jiraiya's word, the final two names in the scroll were for Jiraiya then the Yondaime Hokage.

"Listen kid if you want to sign with the toads you'll have to sign your name with your own blood and place a mark of each your fingers in the bottom, once again using your own blood"

Naruto nodded in understanding, he quickly bit the tip of his thumb and wrote his signature down on the scroll, and then afterwards he bit the tip of each finger on his right hand before placing his fingertips just beneath the signature. Once this was done the large toad quickly walked over and rolled the scroll back into its tongue, it then disappeared leaving another plume of smoke.

"Alright Naruto now that you've signed the contract I'll teach you how to perform the jutsu itself"

For the next few minutes Jiraiya then began to explain and demonstrate the required hand seals for Naruto, and he also began to explain to him the required chakra output to be able to summon a true toad. After his explanation Naruto was ready and geared up to go, he quickly weaved through hand seals before biting the tip of his thumb.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** " he yelled as he slammed his hand onto the ground, smoke appeared but underneath all the smoke was none other than a tiny insignificant tadpole.

The confident smile on Naruto's face quickly faltered into a look of disappointment, Jiraiya looked in and whistled in appreciation.

"Well looks like we're going to be in for a long day"

* * *

 **Hours Later**

After countless numbers of failed attempts Jiraiya was beginning to lose patience with the young boy. He was impressed earlier on after seeing the amount of clones he managed to form, but his control was awful. He couldn't translate the chakra output he placed on his clones onto his summoning, he knew the blonde could do it but for some reason he was failing repeatedly.

But as much as Jiraiya teased him about his constant failures, he began to feel somewhat reminiscent after watching the young genin. He didn't admit it to Naruto but he was very much the same when he first tried summoning, and so was Minato even. Everyone had to start somewhere, but at least in Minato's case it only took him a few errors before he managed to correct himself.

After continually seeing Naruto fail in this task, Jiraiya decided that he needed to mix this training up a bit in order to help speed things up.

"Naruto stop that for now and follow me, I think I know a way to help you learn this technique faster"

Naruto nodded and soon he was led by Jiraiya towards a nearby cliff's edge, the young blonde glanced down the cliff and his eyes widened as he stared at the gigantic drop.

"So why are we even here sensei?" he asked.

"Naruto you simply aren't progressing enough in your training and I think I found the perfect way to motivate you" he replied, "But before we begin here's a small hint. Dig deep and gather as much chakra as you can"

The genin raised an eyebrow out of suspicion, "What do you mean by…." he said, but before he could finish his sentence he was pushed right into the large gorge. Tears were streaming down his face, and his yells echoed around the area.

"You crazy fucking bastard, if I survive this I'll kill you" he yelled in anger, but as soon as he recollected himself he realized how quickly he was falling. He quickly closed his eyes and focused, a large amount of chakra began to surround the young blonde, and after feeling the large surge of power, Naruto once again used the jutsu.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

Naruto closed his eyes feeling nervous, he felt as though as if he summoned another tadpole and that he was going to drop to his death. But instead of there being a tadpole, there stood a gigantic red toad armed with a small katana, and the toad was even smoking a pipe.

Jiraiya's jaw dropped as he watched from the top of the cliff, he expected Naruto to summon someone but he didn't expect it to be Gamabunta of all toads. Explaining things to him was going to be troublesome.

"Who dares summon me, the great Gamabunta?"

Naruto opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't falling anymore, and he even looked down to see the large toad he was standing on top of.

"Holy crap I summoned you? I didn't know toads could grow this big"

The toad known as Gamabunta heard the childish voice on top of his head; he turned and looked up only to find a dancing young blonde.

"Who the hell are you kid? There's no way in hell that you summoned me"

Naruto smiled and pointed a thumb at himself, "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze at your service, the future Hokage of Konoha" he declared.

Gamabunta's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the young boy, memories from years ago suddenly surged back to him. He remembered seeing Minato with a baby boy and it seems that the kid has grown up since then, in fact the last time he saw him was during the Kyuubi's attack.

"You're Minato's kid?"

Naruto nodded in response, "Yeah, he may have been Hokage but I'll surpass him in no time" he replied.

Gamabunta then burst out into laughter, "I like you kid, you've got spunk. So why'd you summon me anyway?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, "My crazy sensei threw me off a cliff to help me with my summoning, and while I was falling I accidentally summoned you" he answered in reply.

"Who's your sensei?"

"Some pervert named Jiraiya, he claims to have trained my dad"

Gamabunta scowled in response, he quickly began to leap upwards towards the cliff in search of Jiraiya. Naruto held on to the toad, the sudden movement was unexpected but at least it made climbing the cliff so much easier. As soon as they reached the top they found Jiraiya standing there looking nervous.

Gamabunta used his tongue to drop Naruto off to the ground before facing the toad sage, "Jiraiya you idiot, next time don't do something so reckless. You owe me sake for this, and it won't be coming cheap either" he yelled.

Jiraiya nodded slowly while looking down in shame, 'Damn why don't the toads show me any respect. The slugs revere Tsunade, and the snakes respect Orochimaru, why couldn't they do the same for me' he thought to himself.

After a few more minutes of scolding from Gamabunta the toad decided to simply return to his home. Soon after that Jiraiya turned to Naruto and he found him staring at him with a deadly gaze.

"I swear to kami sensei one day I'll find a way to pay you back for this. You won't know when or how, but vengeance will be mine. I wasn't known as the prank king for nothing after all"

Jiraiya gulped once more, the kid seemed dead serious about it and if the rumours about him were true, then Jiraiya was absolutely screwed.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

After the whole toad summoning fiasco from the day before, Jiraiya decided to call Naruto's summoning training completed. He had already summoned Gamabunta and there wasn't much more he could do other than that. Instead of helping Naruto with the summoning training, Jiraiya decided to help Naruto's clones with their Hiraishin training, he didn't really know how to perform the jutsu but he's seen it enough to understand the concept and theory behind it, and that alone could be of major help for Naruto.

They didn't really expect to grow into the next Yondaime Hokage over a month, but they did need to teach Naruto his father's techniques and when better to start then now. The boy was eager, Konoha was in need of a generational defining shinobi, and war was on the horizon.

The sooner Naruto learned the Yondaime's trademark techniques, the better. Naruto was definitely a hard worker but his father was also the same, but not only that Minato was also a genius at the same time. It would be difficult for someone to learn Minato's techniques as fast so quickly, and so because of this the shadow clones are a godsend. They definitely hasten the process and they make life much easier for Kakashi and Jiraiya, they were confident that Naruto would be able to learn and eventually master not only the Hiraishin, but also the Rasengan.

The boy's potential was immense, his heritage, his seemingly limitless chakra storages, and his hard working and determined nature meant only that Naruto had incredible promise. Of course Jiraiya and Kakashi didn't admit that, they didn't want to boost Naruto's ego too much. But what they could admit was how dangerous Naruto could be in the future.

"Now Naruto to learn this technique you will have to first master three different stages, first is rotation" Kakashi explained as he held a Rasengan out with his right hand, "If you look closely Naruto, the Rasengan isn't just a stagnant blue ball of chakra, it's actually a rapidly spiralling ball of chakra. For this you'll need to learn how to spin your chakra into multiple directions at once"

Naruto nodded in understanding "The next step is power, for this you'll need to learn how to control the chakra output in your Rasengan" Kakashi said.

"And finally Naruto, the last step is containment. For this you'll need to master both the rotation and power steps first, because you'll need to be able to do them simultaneously in order to learn, let alone master this technique"

"I guess I understand, so how are you going to teach me this technique anyway?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi gave his student an eye smile and he threw him a small water balloon, Naruto quickly noticed this and caught it before it hit him.

"What's this for?"

"This is how you train for rotation" Kakashi answered.

Naruto raised a single eyebrow, "Really? A water balloon" he asked sceptically.

Kakashi nodded as he held out yet another water balloon in his hand, "Naruto this will mark your progress with the first step. The point of this exercise is for you to burst the balloon using your chakra. Just like this" he said. The Jonin then began to apply chakra to his right hand; the water balloon began to churn rapidly until the water balloon exploded in Kakashi's hand.

Naruto was left surprised by that, he questioned the validity of this training exercise due to the simplicity of the explanation, but from what he just saw there was no doubt that it could seriously help with his training for this jutsu, and so with a renewed sense of vigor, Naruto jumped up from his seat and stared at his own water balloon, a confident grin adorning his face.

The Copy Nin saw the confidence in his student's eyes and he chuckled to himself, "Don't take this exercise likely Naruto, learning the Rasengan is no easy feat. It took me three months to learn it, and it took Jiraiya-sama five months"

"Don't worry I'll only need a month"

* * *

 **With the Clones**

In another area of the forest Jiraiya sat back and watched hundreds of shadow clones study and train. Among all the clones Naruto summoned, roughly two hundred were focused on learning and understanding the Hiraishin. They studied the notes and scrolls Minato left, and they even studied the Yondaime's special kunai.

Jiraiya watched in amazement, despite Naruto's obvious lack of common and academic knowledge, he seemed to have a knack for Fuinjutsu and Space & Time Ninjutsu. He wasn't necessarily studying them right here and right now, but he seemed to have quickly understood the concepts for them.

'It seems Naruto may have inherited more than just Minato's looks, like father like son' Jiraiya thought to himself. He may have been an expert in Fuinjutsu, but Space & Time Ninjutsu was definitely not his cup of tea.

In another area of the forest, there were two groups of fifty clones. The first group were also studying notes, but unlike the Hiraishin notes these were notes on academic topics. Kakashi knew that Naruto lacked the proper knowledge to be a ninja, let alone Hokage, and so he decided it was finally time for him to learn.

Instead of studying, the other group of clones were training to help overcome one of Naruto's major weaknesses. They were working on their chakra control; the exercise mostly consisted of tree walking and even some water walking, with Naruto's monstrous chakra reserves he would be downright impossible to defeat if he also learns how to properly control his chakra.

* * *

 **Later that Day**

After a hard day's night of training, the three sat by the fire of their camp. They were cooking a few fishes they caught from the lake, the group sat in silence. Naruto was too exhausted to say anything, Jiraiya seemed to have been too busy jotting down notes, and with nothing else to do Kakashi decided to whip out his favourite book, Icha Icha Paradise.

Naruto groaned as he watched Kakashi pull out the orange book, "Not that again sensei, how could you continue to read that perverted smut. It's complete garbage" he said.

Jiraiya's notebook then dropped to the ground along with his pen, he stared darkly at the young blonde and Naruto wondered why that was so.

"You obviously have no taste in literature you impudent brat, the Icha Icha Paradise is a masterpiece, and it is one of the bestselling books not only in the Land of Fire, but all across the world. It is a story that delves into mature and adult topics, it has adventure, love, lust, drama, romance, action and everything else you'd ever want from a book"

"Geez why are you so defensive about this?" Naruto asked.

"It's because I'm the author of the books, and they are masterpieces. You're just too immature and unsophisticated to understand the complexities of the Icha Icha Series"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but honestly after having met Jiraiya he should have expected something like this, "Oh Kami I'm stuck with two super perverts for the next month" Naruto groaned.

"Oh stop being such a stick in the mud kid, when you grow older I'm sure you'll begin to read my work" said Jiraiya.

The young blonde rolled his eyes, "Yeah right" he replied sarcastically.

"Well I managed to convert your father, I'm sure you'll turn eventually"

Naruto jumped up from his seat in shock, "My dad was a pervert?" he yelled.

Jiraiya chuckled, "Yeah but he kept it a secret. He used to read all my work, but not many people know about that" he said.

"I don't think I could ever see my dad the same way again"

"Don't worry kid, one day you'll be just like your dad. You just need to grow a bit older"

* * *

 **One Week Later**

A whole week had passed and Naruto was beginning to show strides in his Rasengan training. The young blonde initially took the training for granted, he saw how effortlessly Kakashi managed to pop the water balloon and he firmly believed that the same thing was going to happen to him. But unfortunately it wasn't so, it actually took him a whole week to master the first step, this just went to show how complicated the technique was, but to be fair to Naruto a week was still extraordinary.

While Naruto continued his training, Kakashi and Jiraiya stood by a flowing river. Both found an isolated area within the thick forest, this was the perfect place to conduct their brief and private meeting.

"Any news Jiraiya-sama?" asked Kakashi.

Jiraiya nodded his head as a grim expression adorned his face, "Yeah I just got a small message from sensei, I left a toad with him so that he could contact us. Unfortunately there have been two murders in Konoha just in the past week" he replied.

Kakashi's lone visible eye widened in shock, "Two murders, who were killed, and whose the prime suspect?" he asked.

"Apparently one of the genin competitors from the Sound were killed, I believe Dosu was his name. The other was unfortunately one of ours, Hayate Gekko was found dead earlier today one of the rooftops of Konoha, it was clearly murder but at the moment there are no leads or suspects whatsoever"

The Copy Nin was surprised by that, he wasn't necessarily close with Hayate but he had known the Tokubetsu Jonin since their childhood, and from what he's seen Hayate had always been a commendable and competent ninja.

"Kakashi, since the break out of the news, sensei has assigned me to be his bodyguard. When the Chunin Exams Finals begin, I am to serve as the old man's bodyguard, just in case Orochimaru really does decide to pop up again"

The Jonin nodded in understanding, "Very well Jiraiya-sama, now is there anything else?" he asked.

Jiraiya shook his head, "No that's it for now, I'll arrange another meeting if we get any more information from sensei. We should probably head back now"

* * *

 **With Sasuke**

The past week had been hell for the young Uchiha; Anko had really lived up to her name as the Konoha's crazy snake lady. The training had been intense, sadistic, and even downright deadly at times. But despite these, Sasuke could feel himself growing stronger. He had to admit that she was quite a skilled teacher, and one that suited him.

Anko grinned as she stood in front of the Uchiha, "You've done well over the past week gaki, I'm actually impressed that your still alive after all I put you through. I got to give it to you gaki, you've got some talent, and after much thought I've decided to reward you with something" she said.

The snake mistress handed Sasuke a large scroll, "What is this?" asked the genin.

"That is the Snake Summoning Contract"

* * *

 **With Naruto**

Many weeks had passed since Naruto begun his training under both Kakashi and Jiraiya, and during that time the young genin had begun to make massive strides with his ninjutsu. What amazed both Kakashi and Jiraiya most during this month wasn't Naruto's gigantic chakra reserves, and it wasn't his undying determination, it was actually the surprising proficiency Naruto had when it came to the Yondaime's personal techniques.

The Chunin Exams finals about to start just tomorrow, and Naruto couldn't help but feel confident about his chances. During the past month he managed to learn not only the summoning jutsu, but he also learned the Rasengan and Hiraishin. But despite Naruto having the skills to perform those two techniques, he was still far from mastering them.

Naruto's Rasengan was still a work in progress, yes he could perform a Rasengan but he needed the help of a shadow clone to do so. His chakra control was still lacking, but this was something that was going to come eventually for Naruto as long as he continued his training.

The Hiraishin on the other hand was even less refined than the Rasengan, but the fact that Naruto even managed to learn this technique in a month showed just how skilled and determined the young man was, but to be fair the hundreds of clones sure did help.

Naruto was able to use the Hiraishin but it was nowhere near the extent of Minato, he lacked the control and knowledge to reach Minato's proficiency with the jutsu, but Kakashi and Jiraiya believed that one day Naruto could possibly reach that level and even surpass it.

But for now Naruto lacked the overall speed of Minato's Hiraishin, he lacked the control to continually use this chakra-exhausting jutsu, and he couldn't cover as much distance as Minato. For now though this was more than enough especially for a young teenage genin.

A whole month before this Naruto was feeling nervous about the prospect of facing Gaara, but now after all the blood, sweat and tears he placed into his training, he was actually feeling excited.

"Are you ready for this Naruto?"

"Of course I am Kakashi-sensei"

Jiraiya nodded as he stood in between the two, "Well if both are you are okay then I guess it's time to begin. Hajime!" he yelled.

Naruto and Kakashi quickly ran at each other, Naruto summoned four shadow clones and the group all lunged at the Copy Nin. Kakashi saw this coming; he grabbed a kunai from his vest and quickly dispelled the clones. But while the Jonin was preoccupied with the small group of clones, Naruto rushed in and managed to land a kick right into Kakashi's solar plexus.

Kakashi skidded back a few meters as he clutched his gut in pain; he had to admit the kid packed quite a punch on him. The Jonin quickly grabbed a smoke bomb from his vest and threw it to the ground; smoke enveloped the area leaving Naruto visionless.

Naruto held a kunai by his hand in case Kakashi decides to suddenly attack him, but he waited there for minutes and nothing happened. Soon the smoke began to clear and Kakashi was nowhere in sight, Naruto narrowed his eyes, this was too suspicious and he knew his sensei wouldn't flee.

This was obviously a trick; he was soon broken from his reverie as he heard a pair of shuriken flying right at him. Naruto detected these and he used his kunai to deflect the projectiles, he then found Kakashi standing on a tree branch weaving through hand seals.

But before Kakashi could completely finish the jutsu, Naruto summoned a shadow clone and the two ran at the tree. While running towards the three, Naruto held his palm out, a blue ball of chakra was forming on the young boy's hand and he plunged the attack onto the tree.

" **Rasengan** " he yelled, the tree was uprooted by the attack but before it fell Kakashi jumped away in time, and while Naruto's back was turned he completed his jutsu.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

A ball of fire flew at Naruto, the young blonde felt the growing heat and his eyes widened in shock as he stared at the fireball. He hastily applied chakra to his feet and jumped to dodge the incoming attack, but as soon as he was in the air there was another barrage of shurikens thrown his way.

This time however Naruto didn't expect this attack and he was left defenceless, with no other alternative left he decided to use his trump card for the battle. A yellow flash engulfed Naruto before the shurikens attacked the young genin, Kakashi's eyes widen in shock as he watched Naruto disappear with a yellow flash.

He'd seen it before during their training but it still surprised him, ever since the Yondaime's death he never thought he was ever going to see that jutsu again with his own eyes. While Kakashi stared in awe, he suddenly felt a kunai pointing at his lower back.

"Naruto how, I don't remember you marking me?"

The young genin grinned smugly, "Do you remember the hit I landed during my initial attack?"

Kakashi then realized that the punch he delivered not only served as an attack on him, but it was also used to mark him with the seal.

"The punch to my gut…" he muttered.

Naruto nodded his head, "Exactly, it looks like I got you this time Kakashi-sensei. Checkmate" he replied.

Kakashi then began to laugh softly, "You've done well Naruto, I'm sorry to say this but you still haven't defeated me yet" he answered back.

"What do you mean? I've trapped you here; I have a kunai pointed at your back"

"That may be true Naruto, but remember what I told you. Expect the unexpected"

Kakashi then exploded into a cloud of smoke, then as soon as that happened Naruto felt two hands grab his ankles. He realized his mistake now and before he could flee he was dragged onto the ground, he was left stuck from the neck down.

The Copy Nin then jumped up from the ground and he squatted in front of Naruto, he gave his student his trademark eye smile. Naruto on the other hand glared at his sensei, the man was just too sneaky and craft. He thought that he finally had him but it seems that it wasn't the case.

"Like I said a while ago Naruto, you've done well and you should be proud of your growth and progression. But you still have a long way to go before you could defeat me. Your still a bit inconsistent and shaky with your jutsus, and your still a bit impatient and impulsive, but that's nothing a little bit of practice couldn't fix"

Jiraiya then walked over to the two with a smile on his face, "I must say gaki, you've done pretty well for yourself. You reminded me of Minato for a second there when I watched you" he said.

Naruto smiled brightly at the two as he was soon helped up from the ground, "Damn I thought I had you Kakashi-sensei. I swear one day I will defeat you" he said.

"Oh I'm sure you will Naruto, but for now I'm still better"

"Hey kid, seeing as how well you've progressed over the past month, Kakashi and I decided to give you a gift" said Jiraiya.

"A gift, what kind of gift?" he asked suspiciously, "This isn't anything perverted is it?"

Jiraiya's shoulders slumped, "No it isn't anything perverted you brat, just be thankful we even got you these" he replied as he threw Naruto a small storage scroll.

Naruto caught the scroll and opened its contents; he was surprised as a whole bunch of clothes appeared from the scroll. Naruto quickly glanced through the items; he noticed a strage grey book, some black ANBU style pants, a dark blue long sleeved shirt, a black fishnet undershirt, and some black sandals. But the one thing among the pile that really caught Naruto's eyes was the haori. It was a white haori with red flames on the hem.

"So what do you think of our gift?" asked Jiraiya.

Naruto walked over and grabbed the haori, he then tried it on himself and it just felt right. It fit him like a glove; a smile began to form on Naruto's face as he wore the garment.

"I love it"

* * *

 **Glossary**

Rasengan – Spiralling Sphere

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

 **Author's Note**

Here is Chapter 4 finally complete and I hope you guys like it, I know that Naruto may sound a bit OP with the Rasengan and the Hiraishin already, and he is just a bit but he is nowhere near unstoppable in this story. He still has a long way to go before reaching Minato's level but this is a good start in my opinion. Anyway thanks to everyone who supports me and my work, please continue to favourite and follow my story, and also if you guys have any questions or suggestions please leave a review or pm me. Thanks again everyone and I hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter.


	5. The Finals

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Hey everyone sorry once more for the late update, but better late than never. Anyway here is Chapter 5, the finals are beginning and yeah a wee bit of a cliffhanger at the end. For those who still ask as well, yes the pairing for this story will still be NaruSaku and it'll only be NaruSaku. The pairing will have some progression a few chapters from now, so stay tuned for that.**

 **Also guys please check out my profile, aside from this I just updated The Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage and the Child of Prophecy, the story is definitely heating up for those two stories as well and I'll definitely appreciate it if you guys support those two stories as you do for this one. I'm glad though that this particular story is growing at a rapid pace and I have no one to thank for that other than you guys. Anyway please check my other stories out as well and give them a favourite, follow and review, I'll try to continue to update these stories continuously.**

 **Anyway thanks everyone for being patient with me, and thanks for the continuous support as well, and if you guys have any questions or suggestions for my story then please leave a review or send me a private message, I love constructive criticism as long as they are just that, constructive criticism and not hate. Thanks so much for all the support and please continue supporting my work, now without further ado please enjoy my latest chapter for Yondaime's Legacy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The Finals**

There was a large group of people within the Konoha Stadium, the finals for the Chunin Exams were finally about to begin. The whole stadium was packed with civilians and ninjas alike, and of course up in the Kage box was the Hokage and the Kazekage themselves.

So far almost all of the competitors were present for the event; the only one missing was Konoha's most unpredictable ninja. Naruto had yet to return to Konoha and people were beginning to wonder if the boy was going to show up or not, and to be fair people didn't blame him if he decided not to show up, his opponent Gaara seemed to be the worst opponent possible among the genin candidates. Luckily for Naruto though, his match was the last among the four possible fights, and so he still had a lot of time to get to stadium.

With that aside though, all other candidates stood in the middle of the arena. Genma stood in front of the seven genin candidates and he gave them the instructions for this round of the Chunin Exams.

With Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino and Neji being the remaining representatives of Konoha, the rest of their peers sat at a particular section of the stands.

Sakura sat alongside her fellow kunoichi Ino, Hinata and Tenten, and with them were the rest of the boys. Kiba and Choji sat just behind the four girls, and with them was Rock Lee. The green-clad taijutsu expert was gravely injured after his fight with Gaara, but he made sure to make his way to the stadium to cheer on for his fellow Konoha shinobi, and of course his rival and teammate Neji. Unlike Kiba and Choji though, instead of sitting down on the seats around the stadium, Lee instead sat on a wheelchair.

Ino carefully observed the candidates for the Chunin Exams Finals before turning her attention to the pinkette sitting right next to her, "Hey forehead, Sasuke-kun is down there. Where's the idiot Naruto? Don't tell me he's not showing up" she remarked.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts; just the sudden mention of Naruto's name sent a shiver down her spine. It brought her back to what she saw in the Forest of Death, the red and malicious chakra that engulfed Naruto, it frightened her. Her free arm unconsciously hovered over the scar Naruto had given her, she rubbed it slowly and it was still a bit sore.

Ino noticed Sakura's weird reaction, she obviously had something in her mind and she wasn't acting like herself.

"Hey Forehead are you okay?" she asked.

Sakura shook her head before turning to face Ino, she gave the platinum blonde a meek smile, "Yeah Ino I'm alright, don't worry" she assured.

Ino didn't buy it, she knew Sakura well enough to notice that she didn't have the same spunk that she usually had, for started she just called her Ino, there wasn't an insult anywhere there directed at her. She then noticed Sakura's hand gently; it was gently rubbing a red mark on her arm. Ino studied it and she realized it was a scar; Sakura seemed to be nursing it but she decided not to question her on it yet. Sakura really seemed out of it and she doubted she was going to give her a proper answer.

"Anyway forehead before you dozed off I asked you about the dobe, do you think he'll actually show up?" Ino asked once more.

Sakura shrugged softly, "I don't know Ino, I honestly can't tell you" she replied in a weak tone.

Before Ino could reply though a third voice called out to them, "Don't worry Naruto-kun will come, I'm certain of it" said Hinata.

The two girls were surprised to see Hinata sounding and acting confident for once, it was no surprise to almost everyone that Hinata was infatuated with Naruto, it was clear to everyone but Naruto himself. The young blonde was definitely way too dense sometimes.

The group remained silent for the next few minutes; there was nothing else to talk about really. Hinata acted as her usual silent self, while Sakura simply seemed out of it. Ino had no one else to talk to considering they only met Tenten recently, and she seemed to be more of a tomboy.

Then there was an announcement in the stadium, "Ladies and Gentlemen the opening battle for the Chunin Exams Finals are about to begin. The opening fight will have the previous two Rookie of the Year winners up against each other. It will be Sasuke Uchiha vs Neji Hyuuga"

The audience began to cheer loudly for the two contestants; this was easily one of the anticipated fights in Chunin Exams history. It was a battle between two geniuses, two prodigies. The last loyal Uchiha was up against the Hyuga Clan's most promising Branch Family Member. It was the Sharingan versus the Byakugan.

The other contestants vacated the area leaving only Sasuke and Neji, the two of them stood on opposite sides of the area. They stood tall as they continued to stare each other down, neither of them flinching or showing any sign of weakness to their opponent.

Genma stood in between the two contestants and he glanced at the two, he could see instantly that both of them were more than ready to go.

"Alright let the first fight begin" he announced, and just like that Sasuke quickly weaved through the hand seals for his clan's signature jutsu.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

A large fireball flew towards Neji but the young Hyuga remained cool, calm and collected. As the fireball drew closer and closer, Neji simply began to spin around as a large blue wall of chakra began to surround him.

" **Hakkeshō Kaiten"**

The fire collided with the wall of chakra and it was quickly extinguished, Sasuke scowled upon seeing this, he was disappointed to see his attack so easily defeated.

Up in the stands Hiashi Hyuga sat alongside the elders of the Hyuga Clan, all of them watched with widened eyes at what they had just witnessed. The technique Neji used was meant to be only for the Main Branch Family, and it was also a Jonin level technique at that, how someone like Neji could learn and utilize the technique so early on left them speechless. The boy truly was a genius.

"Impressive attack but I'm afraid it's your destiny to lose to me" taunted Neji.

"I don't think so" replied Sasuke, the young Uchiha then ran towards his opponent and he threw a few shuriken to distract the young Hyuga. Neji saw through this and simply stopped them mid-flight.

" **Hakke Kūshō"**

As Sasuke ran closer towards his opponent, his Sharingan began to unveil itself. Neji noticed this and smirked, his Byakugan began to show itself as well. The two prodigies stared each other down with their respective Dojutsu.

Sasuke then came in attempting to punch Neji through the stomach; Neji quickly dodged this and countered with a solid punch at Sasuke's punch sending the young Uchiha back a few metres.

Sasuke landed on one knee and he wiped away the bit of blood seeping out of the corner of his lips, he scowled as he stared at the cocky look on the Hyuga's face. He quickly ran at him once more and the two engaged in a taijutsu battle.

Naturally Neji had the slight advantage in taijutsu seeing as how this was his specialty, so naturally he was on the offensive. Sasuke on the other hand was on the defensive but luckily thanks to his Sharingan he managed to foresee and dodge most of the Neji's attacks. But on the bright side he managed to land a few good ones as well on Neji.

Neji tried his best to close out Sasuke's chakra points but the elusive Uchiha managed to dodge or block the vital hits, but he couldn't dodge them all. Neji was able to land simple punches and kicks here and there but his **Jūken** style of fighting was effectively evaded by Sasuke.

Sasuke grit his teeth, he hated being on the defensive. He decided to quickly throw a smoke bomb onto the ground and jump back a few metres, he underestimated Neji's skills in taijutsu and so he decided it was best if he changed his tactic into a mid-range game.

Neji managed to see through the smoke with his Byakugan, enough at least to locate Sasuke.

But before he could react he was caught in a bind as a few lines of chakra strings were wrapped around him, he turned back to Sasuke and his eyes widened as he saw him weaving through yet another set of hand seals.

" **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu"**

Neji struggled and tried to escape as the fire rushed towards him, with no other alternative the Hyuga used Shunshin to escape the attack.

"Dammit how could I have been so careless, a few more seconds and I would've been burnt"

More smoke began to engulf the area, but with both their Dojutsu activated the two still managed to spot out each other, Neji instead used **Hakkeshō Kaiten** once more around the area to clear up the smoke.

"I'll admit that was good Uchiha, but not good enough"

Sasuke smirked at the continuous taunts, "Trust me I'm only getting started" he replied.

" **Sen'eijashu"**

Snakes slithered up from Sasuke's arms and shot towards Neji, the crowd gasped they hadn't expected Sasuke to already be able to use summons like that, they were impressed. Even Neji was taken by surprise, he didn't have time to block or dodge the attack. The snakes collided with Neji and they sent him flying back skidding across the ground.

Many in the crowd gasped in surprise, and the others simply watched in awe, it was rare for someone to have a summoning contract let alone a genin. But also it wasn't just any other summoning contract either, it was the Snake summoning contract.

Neji groggily stood up and wiped the blood off the corner of his lips, now he was angry. With a scowl on his face he quickly ran at Sasuke, the young Uchiha saw this and prepared himself. The Hyuga came in with a flurry of Gentle Fist strikes, and much like last time Sasuke managed to dodge a large majority of the strikes.

This went on and on for what seemed like an hour, they would first engage in a taijutsu battle, then Sasuke would stretch the battle and fight Neji with long-range and mid-range ninjutsu and genjutsu attacks, yet somehow Neji also managed to neutralize most of Sasuke's attacks.

The two managed to match each other blow by blow; they truly deserved the title of genius, as the battle raged on the two genin began to accumulate bruises and wounds making it more and more difficult for them to continue.

In the end though the two stood apart from one another, they were nearing the point of exhaustion. They had an incredible battle for two genins, certainly a memorable way to start off this year's Chunin Exam Finals.

Both Sasuke and Neji stared each other out, the Sharingan and Byakugan long gone due to their lack of chakra. The two stood there filled with wounds and bruises, there was patches of blood all across their body. Both of them were panting and groggy, they could barely stand any longer. At this point it was left to a battle of wills, and in this instance it turned out that Sasuke's was just stronger than Neji's. The Hyuga's knees grew shaky and he collapsed to the ground, Sasuke remained standing up albeit barely. The crowd watched this and cheered the second Neji fell to the ground; the battle between the two was epic and now their expectations for the remaining fights were heightened.

Sasuke could barely stand himself but he summoned all his remaining strength not to fall, but much like Neji he too was at the brink of unconsciousness. Thankfully for him though Genma arrived quickly to check up on Neji, the claimed that his injuries were numerous but none of them were fatal. Soon after a small medic arrived and brought Neji out of the arena through a stretcher.

Then Genma walked over to Sasuke and announced him the winner, Sasuke smirked but he barely had any energy left to celebrate further. Instead he basked in the applause and cheering of the crowds. He scanned through the crowd and his eyes landed at the area where the contestants sat, his small smirk suddenly disappeared into a scowl.

'Dobe, where are you?' he asked himself.

* * *

 **With Sakura**

Sakura and the rest of the Rookie Nine cheered for Sasuke's victory, meanwhile the two members of Team Guy watched in disbelief as they saw Neji fall at the hands of the Uchiha. Lee couldn't help but cheer as well though, now he was determined more than ever to train.

"Go Sasuke-kun, you're the best" yelled Ino.

Sakura uncharacteristically remained silent though, she clapped loudly but she refrained from cheering like the platinum blonde beside her. Ino usually would have noticed Sakura's strange behaviour but at the moment she was too busy cheering for Sasuke.

* * *

 **With Genma**

Once the cheering and applause died down, Sasuke was led to the arena's infirmary while Neji was sent to the Konoha hospital. Now the arena was vacant once more, only Genma stood in the middle ready to announce the second fight of the tournament. After the initial battle the audience was excited for the follow up battle.

"Alright for the second fight of this year's Chunin Exam Finals I'd like Shikamaru Nara and Temari of the Sand to come down" he announced, the two genin walked down the contestant's row to head to the arena.

Temari walked down with a confident smirk; meanwhile Shikamaru had a scowl plastered on his face.

"This is so troublesome" he mumbled to himself.

Once the two contestants were down onto the arena, Genma announced the start of the battle.

"Alright you two know the rules right?" he asked as the two nodded in confirmation.

"Good, well in that case let the battle begin" he announced.

* * *

 **With Ino**

The platinum blonde cheered loudly for her teammate alongside Choji, "Go Shikamaru kick her ass" she yelled loudly. Choji's cheering however was incoherent, due to the chips stuffed in his mouth.

The audience all watched this particular battle and much like the previous one it was just as entertaining but in a more subtle manner. Neji and Sasuke's fight was a battle between two prodigies; they matched one another in taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. It was an all-out brawl between the two which ended with Sasuke as the close victor.

Shikamaru and Temari's battle however was much more tactical and precise; every move they made was calculated and intentional. It was as if the crowd was watching a live game of shogi, the tactics and strategies the two used was far more advanced for their age.

Sasuke and Neji were true prodigies of ninjutsu, but Shikamaru and Temari were geniuses in an intellectual sense. The intelligence and tactical awareness of the two was simply outstanding. No the jutsus and attacks weren't as powerful or destructive as the previous battle, but this fight was just as interesting.

* * *

 **Kage's Booth**

Hiruzen watched the battle in intrigue, beside him the Kazekage was just as impressed. Throughout the early stages of the finals Hiruzen noticed strange things from the Kazekage, although he was interested in this particular battle, he was much more focused and intent on watching the battle between Sasuke and Neji earlier on, despite his own daughter Temari fighting in this one right now.

So far Hiruzen thought nothing off it, but he just found that one fact strange. Other than that though; the Hokage continued to watch the finals in silence alongside the Kazekage.

But one other thing did disturb the Hokage; he was worried at how Naruto has yet to arrive back in Konoha. But knowing Kakashi and Jiraiya, he knew the boy was safe, he just hoped he didn't inherit too many qualities from those two over the past month. The last thing he needed was another unpunctual super pervert roaming around Konoha.

'You better hurry Naruto; I'm not sure how much time you still have. Even I can't extend the waiting period for you, the rules are the rules after all' he thought to himself.

* * *

 **With Shikamaru**

His battle with Temari had so far gone as plan, she played the game well but in the end he played it better. She played her part and fell right into his plan, she may have countered a few of his moves but in the end it was inevitable.

He managed to capture Temari in his **Kagemane no Jutsu** , the crowd was left speechless by the Nara's impressive performance. Shikamaru had a dead last reputation alongside Kiba, Choji and Naruto, the four of them tended to skip class and underachieve in the academy. So naturally people didn't think he'd amount too much in the future, but after seeing his display in the Chunin Exams thus far the opinion and view on Shikamaru was quickly changing for the better.

With Temari bound to his jutsu Shikamaru raised his arm to the air and Temari did the same, she tried her best to resist it but it was to no avail. Shikamaru had a bored look on his face and just before he finished the battle, he released Temari from his hold and turned to Genma.

"I surrender" he said.

The crowd was left speechless, even Temari and Genma were speechless.

"What? Did I hear you right kid? You could win just now" said Genma.

Shikamaru yawned while nodding, "Yeah I'm sure, I surrender" he said in a lazy tone.

Genma shook his head before grabbing and pulling Temari's arm into the air, "In that case I declare Temari of Suna as the winner of this battle" he declared.

"WHAT?" yelled the audience; they couldn't believe what had just happened. Shikamaru had just let go of a golden opportunity to win the battle and advance.

Temari didn't know how to react either, on one hand she was glad to win but not in these sorts of circumstances. She was named the victor but she didn't feel like the winner, if anything her pride took a hit today. She lost to that lazy boy, and not only that she was embarrassed by that boy.

Up in the stands the members of Rookie Nine had no idea how to react, the stadium was silent out of absolute disbelief. Ino however lost her temper, "You suck you lazy bastard" she yelled out loud.

Shikamaru managed to hear it down in the arena and he could already tell whose voice it was, "Troublesome, Ino's going to give me an earful for this" he muttered.

But then again the young Nara merely shrugged, it was either another fight in the next round or a lecture from Ino, at this point the latter wasn't that bad. He was already exhausted from this fight anyway and he couldn't be bothered fighting Sasuke, Kankuro, Shino, Naruto or god forbid; Gaara. He was content with losing, he felt like he did enough to not embarrass the family name and there was nothing more that had to be done. As far as he was concerned he achieved what he set out to do in the first place.

Soon after that Temari and Shikamaru were sent out of the arena, Temari made her way to the infirmary to nurse her injuries while Shikamaru walked onto the audience to join his fellow genin and as soon as he sat by the rest of the Konoha 12 he was quickly lectured by Ino. Shikamaru simply sat silently ignoring her incessant ranting but it was getting difficult.

"Troublesome" he muttered softly enough for Ino not to hear.

Genma then called on the contestants of the third battle, "Shino Aburame and Kankuro of Suna please head down to the stage" he called out, the two walked down onto the arena.

"Are you both ready to fight?" asked Genma.

Shino nodded slightly to confirm his readiness; however Kankuro on the other hand shook his head. Genma turned to the boy, "What's wrong kid?" he asked.

Kankuro hesitated to answer a second but then he found the perfect excuse, "My puppets aren't ready and I failed to complete their maintenance in time. I'm afraid I can't continue" he replied.

"Surely you can fight without puppets?" he asked.

"Nope sorry my fighting style is solely dependent on puppets and unfortunately mine are not in a capable state to fight my opponent. I think I may have to forfeit this fight" he confessed.

"Are you absolutely sure about that decision? There's no backing out of this" Genma asked with an eyebrow raised out of suspicion.

Kankuro nodded his head, "Yeah I'm sure" he answered while trying to look and sound disappointed.

The Tokubetsu Jonin sighed, "Okay, well Shino Aburame is the winner of this round and he is now heading over to the next stage of the Finals" he announced.

Shino's emotions and reactions were indiscernible due to his jacket covering his face and his shades covering his eyes, but deep down Shino was quite disappointed. He had been training for this moment for the past month and although he wanted to show off his growth in the past month at least he still had his opportunity to do so in the next round. The only problem was that now his opponents were going to be even stronger, but he did have one major advantage to his opponents, he comes into the next round refreshed seeing as how he has yet to fight today.

Genma then made the two leave the arena's battleground, Shino made his way to join Sasuke and Temari, while Kankuro walked back into the audience to join his sensei Baki. The people watching the show was disappointed with the boy's decision and so they displayed their displeasure through a heavy chorus of boos.

"Alright then for the final battle of this round could I please have Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara of the Sand" yelled Genma.

The auburn haired boy walked down the stairs and onto the battleground, he had a murderous and dangerous aura around him, he was ready to kill his opponent in cold blood. But his opponent had yet to show up, the crowd was mostly silent but there were whispers and murmurs among the people all of which wondering where the rambunctious blonde could be.

Gaara's expression remained emotionless but he was quickly losing his patience, he was excited to fight this Naruto Uzumaki especially after the chakra he felt in the Forest of Death and even Shukaku the demon inside of him was raring to go. The malicious chakra exhilarated Gaara, for the longest time he had been searching an opponent who could possibly match him blow for blow but so far that opponent had yet to show up. That chakra felt familiar to him, and apparently it was to Shukaku as well but the demon just couldn't put his finger to it.

A few more minutes pass and there was still no Naruto, the crowd was growing restless. They didn't like Naruto to begin with and now the young prankster was just wasting their time by not showing up and they were getting annoyed further by the young blonde's antics. Many of the genin felt the same way aside from Sakura, Lee and Hinata.

Lee barely knew Naruto but from what he had seen he could tell that Naruto was not someone to run away from something, Hinata was on the same boat as Lee. She knew Naruto a bit more than Lee and he was one of the bravest and strongest people she knew, nothing can keep Naruto down and he was never backing down from anybody.

Sakura however was a bit more impassive when it came to Naruto, she knew Naruto well enough to know that he was coming to fight but it seems that Kakashi's tardiness was rubbing off on Naruto. But at the same time she was still unsure if she was ready to see Naruto, the memories of the events in the Forest of Death was still clear in her head and she had never been more scared for her life then she was at that moment. Not even their encounter with Zabuza could compete with Orochimaru's attack and Naruto's transformation.

Although it was natural for her to fear Orochimaru, she also grew to fear Naruto and that transformation of his. She had so many unanswered questions about the young blonde, she was certain she felt that same power by the bridge during Team Seven's battle with Zabuza and Haku, and that was the same power that managed to easily defeat Haku as well, not to mention it was powerful enough to stand up to Orcohimaru a legendary Sannin and an S-Rank missing nin of Konoha. For so long she viewed Naruto as nothing more than a dead last with no potential for the future, but now her view on Naruto quickly turned around.

He wasn't just that happy-go-lucky, immature and energetic mischief maker, he had something dark hidden inside of him, some sort of power. Sakura was unsure on what it was, could it have been a Kekkei Genkai, possibly. There was no telling for sure at the moment, all she knew was that the power Naruto held frightened her and it hurt her. The scar was still clear on her arm, and it was a clear remnant of that moment.

* * *

 **Arena Battleground**

Genma sighed he had given Naruto ample time to arrive and he had yet to show up, his patience was running thin so he decided it was time to end the fight seeing as how Naruto had yet to show up.

"Well everyone it seems like Naruto Uzumaki has yet to show up, unfortunately this means that he is…" but before Genma could finish his announcement the entire battleground was suddenly engulfed in smoke.

The crowd gasped as they wondered what was going on, soon a few seconds later the smoke began to disappear and in the battleground stood three figures, at the moment they were still indiscernible but as more and more of the smoke began to disappear the three figures became much clearer.

Most of the audience watch with widened eyes at the familiar sight before them, Jiraiya of the Sannin stood on one side with Kakashi on the other, Jiraiya had his arms crossed as a proud smirk adorned his face, the Copy Nin however had one hand on his pocket and another on the Icha Icha book he was reading, as per usual the masked nin looked disinterested.

But it was the person in the middle which intrigued the most of the audience, in the middle of those two great ninjas was an almost eerily familiar sight. It was a young blonde with spiky hair; he stood in between the two of them proudly as a big bright smile adorned his whiskered face.

Naruto's blonde spiky hair was a trademark look for him but only now did people realize its resemblance to the Yondaime's own blonde hair, among the people of Konoha blonde hair was usually rare. Most of the people here had brown, black and mostly dark hair with a few exceptions here and there. The Yamanaka Clan had blonde hair but they're hair was more of a platinum shade of blonde, Naruto's had the exact same shape and colour of Minato's blonde hair and no one else in Konoha had a similar shade to theirs.

The sight of the young blonde brought up an old memory for most of the older audience members, the young kid in the middle reminded them so much of the deceased Yondaime Hokage, the similarities were uncanny.

For the past month Naruto had endured intense and sometimes even sadistic training from Kakashi and Jiraiya, the two may have seemed like useless and disinterested perverts but Naruto had to admit that they certainly knew what they were doing as they trained him, and so with the intense training, Naruto's naturally fast metabolism and his more healthy diet over the past month, he managed to grow in height and he also began to burn off some of his baby fat.

A few of Naruto's muscles began to become much clearer and pronounced, and the baby fat across Naruto's face was quickly burned and his face began to take a more angular shape, so all in all he was beginning to look more and more like his father, the Yondaime Hokage.

For the people in the audience it was as if they were staring at the teenage equivalent of their beloved and deceased Yondaime Hokage, but what made this much more suspicious was Naruto's connection to both Kakashi and Jiraiya, it was clear to everyone there that they were the ones who have trained Naruto over the past month in preparation for this fight, they wouldn't accompany Naruto here to the finals if they hadn't trained him before then.

The parallel between Naruto and the Yondaime began to grow stronger and stronger with both Kakashi and Jiraiya showing themselves as Naruto's teachers over the past month. Minato had a special relationship with those two ninjas as well, Jiraiya was after all his Jonin sensei when he was a genin, and when he did become a Jonin and when he took over a genin team, Kakashi was his prized student, and now seeing those two train the young blonde it simply brought up more questions. It was natural for Kakashi to teach Naruto seeing as how he was his Jonin sensei, but seeing Jiraiya go out of his way to teach a young genin, that and Naruto's similar features to the Yondaime made this that much more suspicious.

Now along the haori Naruto wore, it was nearly the exact replica of the Yondaime's signature look, in fact Naruto wore practically the same outfit Minato wore; all he was missing was the Jonin vest. The audience was filled with murmurs and whispers as everyone talked about Naruto's clear resemblance to the Yondaime, it was uncanny at this point.

Up in the Kage's booth, both the Hokage and Kazekage watched on in awe. The Kazekage seemed surprised by the incredible resemblance Naruto had with the Yondaime as well. Hiruzen on the other hand was calm as he watched the entire grand entrance; the old man merely shook his head with a small grin on his face.

'Very fitting of you Naruto, nothing about you is ever quiet is it lad?' he thought to himself.

The genin area however had a different reaction to the older generation; obviously they never truly witnessed the Yondaime Hokage all they ever knew of him was through their history books, so naturally they were unsure about the massive fuss with Naruto's sudden appearance. Many of them had to admit that there was something different about Naruto and it wasn't just the boy's lack of orange. Appearance wise Naruto obviously changed drastically, the kunoichi among the Konoha 12 had to admit that Naruto looked quite good.

Hinata was blushing up a storm as per usual, Tenten admired Naruto from afar and she was impressed by the boy's sudden change, Ino was on the same boat as Tenten but she refused to admit it to anyone. Sakura however studied Naruto more closely, there was still a bit of fear lingering in her heart but seeing this new Naruto calmed her down a bit, there was something definitely different with this Naruto, he exuded a more mature, powerful and confident aura, a stark contrast to the immature and out-of-control kid she knew back then, and much more different than the monster she encountered in the forest.

This Naruto looked as if he had everything under control and this gave Sakura a sense of relief, she still didn't know how to react but she was definitely intrigued thus far. Only time can tell though if her judgement was correct or not.

The boys on the other hand were cheering loudly, they talked among themselves and they admitted that Naruto's new getup was badass, but now they wondered if he could walk the walk.

Kakashi and Jiraiya grinned as they watched the audience's surprised reactions, they knew that their entrance was going to cause a stir but they didn't care at this point. Jiraiya then patted Naruto on the back, while Kakashi ruffled the young blonde's hair.

"Go kick some ass for me kid" said the Sannin.

"Good luck Naruto, remember what we taught you" said Kakashi.

Naruto nodded his head and the two quickly disappeared leaving a small puff of smoke, Jiraiya disappeared only to join Hiruzen up in the Kage's Booth, while Kakashi appeared in the area where all his fellow Konoha Jonin instructors were seated.

* * *

 **Kage's Booth**

Hiruzen smiled as Jiraiya arrived to his side, "Good to see you again Jiraiya" he said, "So how'd your training with Naruto go?"

Jiraiya nodded, "Good to see you too sensei" he replied with a smirk, "Just wait and see, I assure you Naruto will give everyone here one hell of a show"

The Hokage was impressed, "Very well then, I'm excited to see how much the young lad has grown in this past month. It seems though he already inherited a few of you and Kakashi's bad habits"

"What are you talking about sensei?"

"Being extremely late, and having a grand entrance, doesn't that sound awfully familiar? He better not be reading your work soon, imagine if a certain redhead ever found out about this"

Jiraiya's gulped nervously as his eyes widened in fear, "Oh don't worry sensei that won't be the case. Being late was an accident, Gamabunta refused to transport us here so we had to rush it all the way back, as for the grand entrance I just couldn't help myself. But don't worry, Naruto hasn't showed any signs of liking my work…..yet the impudent brat, doesn't know good literature even when its right in his face" he said but with the last part much more silent.

Hiruzen laughed, "Yes don't worry Jiraiya I was just joking" he replied.

Meanwhile as the two conversed in their small conversation, they failed to notice the Kazekage's more cautious posture the second Jiraiya arrived in the booth.

'Dammit why did this idiot have to come here, this definitely makes my job much more difficult. No matter though, Jiraiya will be nothing more than a slight hindrance to me' he thought to himself.

* * *

 **Jonin Section**

Kakashi arrived by the Jonin area with his eyes still glued to the smut on his hand, but despite that he still noticed the shocked looks his comrades were giving him. Asuma, Kurenai and Guy in particular stared at Kakashi demanding answers from the masked Jonin.

Kakashi lowered his book and studied the faces of his comrades, "Why are you guys all looking at me?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Don't play dumb with us Kakashi, tell us about Naruto. He looks awfully similar to your sensei doesn't he?" asked Kurenai.

Kakashi adopted a thinking pose, "Now that you mention it you're right, huh what a coincidence" he replied. Asuma, Kurenai and Guy all sighed knowing that they wouldn't be able to get answers from Kakashi, they decided to sit back and instead watch the fight closely, maybe there was something there that could give them more clues.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

Naruto stood in the same position eyeing down his opponent, he still had the same confident smile on his face. He had seen Gaara fight Lee nearly a month ago and he saw the destructive power that boy held, and he was certain that he porbably grew even stronger in the past month. That didn't matter to Naruto though, he was confident in his own growth and progression and he knew that he could take Gaara easily.

Kakashi and Jiraiya trained him for this moment and he worked incredibly hard in that month, he wanted to make his father and mother proud and he wanted to prove a point to everyone here. Naruto Uzumaki the demon child of Konoha was no more, in front of everyone was the new Naruto. It was Naruto Namikaze, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, and the future Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.

Soon the people recovered from their state of stupor and disbelief, Genma walked over to the middle of the two boys before slowly glancing at the two. Neither of them spared him a glance, they stared dead straight as they sized each up.

"I'm sure you two already know the rules, now are you ready to begin this fight?" he asked.

"I was born ready" Naruto replied as Gaara nodded slowly.

Genma nodded in understanding, he soon raised his arm to the air, "Alright here is the final fight for this round of the Finals, the winner obviously advances through to the next stage where he will be pit up against either Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame or Temari of the Sand" he declared.

'Ah I see the teme won, that's good. I can't wait to kick his ass in the finals' Naruto thought.

Genma then glanced at the two one final time and he could see that the two were ready to go.

"Hajime"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Well here's Chapter 5, I hope you guys liked it. Sorry for the long delay but as I said in the Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage's Chapter 19, I've just been very busy recently with all sorts of stuff and I've been lacking the inspiration to write and update my stories recently. But I managed to write this chapter out for you guys along with the chapters of my other stories. I would have liked to expand further on the battle descriptions but to be honest I didn't know how to fully expand or describe how I wanted Sasuke and Neji's fight to be, but I promise I'll make Naruto and Gaara's fight awesome. Shikamaru and Temari's fight though along with Kankuro and Shino's remains the same in canon, obviously the only difference here is that instead of Naruto fighting Neji it was Sasuke fighting him, and instead of Sasuke fighting Gaara, it was Naruto fighting Gaara. Well anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please check out my other stories as well. Also if you haven't already then please favourite and follow this story I love all your continuous support of my work and I hope it continues. If you guys also have any questions, suggestions or criticisms for my work then feel free to leave a review love reading over the reviews and I will answer all the questions sent my way. But if you're shy then you can just send me a private message and I'll reply all the same. Thanks again for reading!

 **Glossary**

Jūken - Gentle Fist

Hakkeshō Kaiten - Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

Sen'eijashu - Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

Kagemane no Jutsu - Shadow Imitation Technique


	6. The Heir to the Yellow Flash

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Hello my readers, sorry about the delay again. My school subscription to Microsoft Office kind of expired so I had no way of writing for a while so instead I jotted down a few ideas here and there for this story and for my other stories. Recently I've been thinking about my current stories and I've been getting a little bit bored of them to be honest, and so I've decided to create a new batch of stories to write up just to keep me interested in writing. Don't worry though I still have plans working on God of Shinobi, and to continue The Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage, The Child of Prophecy and of course this story. Just wanted new stories with new premises to keep me inspired, my updating will just be a bit more inconsistent though and for that I apologize. Just having to cope with university, work, social life and other commitments like sport. Time management is just a pain in the ass.**

 **Also my other story The Rise of the Rokudaime Hokage has finally reached 1000 favorites and as promised I will eventually put a chapter for the fans, and there is a poll on my account to help decide who will be in the lemon I will write for my fanservice chapter. Head over to my profile to vote and I'll obviously go with whoever wins.**

 **Anyway, thanks everyone for the continuous support despite the long absence, I'll try to be a bit more consistent from here on but no promises. If you guys have any questions, suggestions or criticisms for this story or my other stories feel free to leave a review or pm me. I'm more than happy to answer or accommodate your questions or concerns.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: The Heir to the Yellow Flash**

"Hajime"

Immediately after starting the fight between these two promising Genin, Genma was intelligent enough to quickly move out of the way. Naruto ran at Gaara at an insane pace, the stoic redhead however remained standing in the same position as he was not even flinching from the pacey blonde.

Naruto grew closer to Gaara and before he could truly fight his fellow Jinchuuriki, he knew he first had to test him and gauge his skills. He quickly summoned five shadow clones and all five of them jumped towards the Suna-nin ready to attack the unmoving figure.

Gaara scoffed and simply gathered sand from his gourd and swiped the squad of clones away, all dispelling leaving a plume of smoke, Naruto stopped in his tracks and assess the situation. He was intrigued, he was beginning to make notes in his mind.

'It looks like he's really a proficient mid-range and long-range fighter, so to win I have to make him fight my way. I need to force him to adapt to my close-range fighting style' he thought to himself.

Before Naruto put his plan into place though, he continued to attack Gaara with a flurry of shadow clones and shuriken, all of which his opponent easily managed to defend against.

* * *

 **Kage's Booth**

Up in the booth, the Kazekage watched the battle in intrigue, there was yet to be any major moves on either side. To the common civilian, the earlier stages seemed rather boring and lackadaisical, but to a ninja's eyes it was clear that Naruto was playing it smart and safe by first testing the capabilities of his opponent. He would be foolish to rush in headstrong without really knowing Gaara's powers.

'Sasuke's fight was already quite a delight to watch, but now Naruto-kun versus Gaara, this day just keeps getting more and more interesting. I might have to pay closer attention to Naruto-kun, he may prove to be yet another possible prospect. The attack may as well be delayed for a few hours'

* * *

 **Battle Zone**

Gaara was getting frustrated by Naruto's lackluster attacks, he was aware that he could do much more than these petty and weak shuriken and clones. He felt the chakra in the Forest of Death, and he knew Naruto was just like him, but he had yet to display those powers of his.

He had been waiting for this moment for the past month, he had dreamed about finally fighting against someone who could give him a challenge. At first the Uchiha intrigued him but as soon as he felt the familiar chakra in the forest he knew that he had to change his target.

Gaara was done playing these trivial games, he wanted to fight Naruto demon to demon.

Naruto raised a suspicious eyebrow at Gaara, the redhead in front of him began to finally show a bit of emotion. Instead of his blank face, Gaara began to chuckle darkly, the expression and the killer intent he released even gave Naruto the chills.

'This is one creepy dude' he said to himself with a rather nervous gulp.

"What are you laughing at?" he yelled.

"You know, you and I are a lot alike. We're actually the same…inside" he said with a sinister grin on his face.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, he had a suspicion about what he was saying but he wasn't entirely sure just yet.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

The Suna ninja's chuckle grew only darker, "We hold the same beast, we hold the same burden" he sold rather softly for only Naruto to hear.

The crowd around them whispered among themselves, they were unsure what was going on. So far the start of the fight had been a bit of a letdown, and they couldn't necessarily hear what Naruto and Gaara were talking about, the two spoke just loud enough for each other to hear but not enough for the crowd.

Naruto stared at Gaara with a blank expression, "How many?" he asked. The redhead chuckled and lifted a single finger, Naruto quickly take note of that and nodded. Immediately after his opponent's answer Naruto threw a kunai directed at his face. Gaara didn't even flinch, he caught the strange kunai with his sand, not even impressed with Naruto's attack.

The young blonde boy grinned confidently before vanishing in a yellow flash, he appeared just beside Gaara with the same kunai just about to plunge into his neck, the redhead's eyes widened in shock and disbelief he never knew someone could move so fast.

One term was in the audience's mind as they witnessed that yellow flash, " **Hiraishin** ".

"Nine beats one" he whispered softly to his ear, but while Naruto had the kunai directly pointed towards his opponent's neck he could feel a large blade of sand sticking up from the ground ready to pierce his spine if he so chose to strike Gaara.

'Impressive, he was ready with a counter attack' Naruto thought to himself.

Gaara was in the same position, 'So fast, I never knew someone could be this fast'

The whole audience was left speechless, even both Kages couldn't believe their eyes. They had just witnessed a long lost jutsu, a technique known to only two other people, both of which happen to the former Hokages. The Nidaime Hokage and the Yondaime Hokage, these two were among the most powerful ninjas in Konoha's history and it took them years to learn and master this technique, and yet some cheeky brat just did that same jutsu right in front of them just now.

The Konoha 12 were unable to move or react, they couldn't believe that that kind of speed was achievable. Many of the genin had similar thoughts crossing their minds, they were wondering what happened to the old Naruto, where he learned these new techniques, and how he got so strong suddenly. The Naruto in front of them was not the same Naruto they knew just a few weeks back. This was a whole new Naruto.

It was quite reminiscent to the days of the Yondaime Hokage, and honestly people didn't know how to react to this. Of course, the questions only began to increase more and more, just who was Naruto Uzumaki really?

Naruto immediately teleported back to where he stood, he knew that if he were to strike Gaara in the neck then he would be stabbed in the back.

Gaara merely grinned, "Ah this gets better I see. Nine versus One, The Raccoon versus the Fox" he said as a sickly smile and a bloodthirsty laugh erupted from the usually silent and stoic boy. "Well then Nine you better not hold back, I came here for a fight and I expect a fight. Prepare yourself…or DIE" yelled Gaara as he quickly gathered a large wave of sand and sent them at his opponent's way.

Naruto was taken by surprise by the sudden attack, thankfully he reacted just in time to jump up high into the air to dodge the massive attack, but while in the air Gaara threw projectiles of sand into his opponent with his **Suna Shuriken** jutsu. The young blonde quickly dodged these attacks with a simple substitution.

" **Suna no Kaiwan"**

A massive replica of Shukaku's sand arm sprung forth from the ground and started swiping around the arena, Naruto was left to take a defensive stance against this attack. He had barely managed to dodge them, he ran around the arena dodging these attacks but while running away he was tactically placing explosive tags on tree stumps around the area.

Eventually though he was caught by Gaara's attack and he was held into the air, but before he could squeeze his hand Naruto escaped with yet another substitution but this time the tree stumped he substituted with had an explosive tag. The hand of sand exploded destroying the jutsu.

Gaara chuckled, "Sneaky little fox, now quit running and fight me" he demanded.

Naruto emerged from one of the few remaining trees in the arena, he jumped up from the tree and summoned two shadow clones, the two clones grabbed him from the arms while in mid-air and they threw him towards Gaara before dispelling themselves.

While flying towards his opponent Naruto quickly managed to form his attack, Gaara was taken by surprise and he didn't have time to react as his opponent instantly managed to attack him with his newly learned jutsu.

" **Rasengan** " yelled Naruto, he plunged the blue ball of chakra into his unsuspecting opponent's gut. Gaara was sent flying towards the wall and Naruto grinned at the damage from his attack.

The crowd at this point just didn't know how to react anymore, after witnessing that jutsu the older generation were with nostalgic thoughts while the younger generation was shocked due to the power of Naruto's jutsu, they couldn't believe that Naruto of all people managed to pull that off.

Naruto inspected the area where Gaara landed, he couldn't see much due to the dust surrounding the area, but soon he shivered in fear as he heard the same familiar laugh. The dust around settled and Gaara walked out with sand engulfing his whole body.

"Quite a powerful attack you have, too bad for you my **Suna no Yoroi** managed to neutralize it"

Naruto inspected his opponent and smiled lightly after his rather confident statement, "Thank again" he said while pointing at his forehead.

Gaara placed his hand into his forehead and there he felt some sort of liquid, upon further inspection he realized that his right hand was soaked in a bit of blood, his eyes widened in shock but his smile grew more and more in size.

"You made me bleed, I can't believe it, twice in a month. Yet another worthy opponent" he said.

" **Ryūsa Bakuryū** " he yelled as he unleashed yet another giant wave of sand, but unlike last time this one much larger in scale and size.

Naruto gulped nervously at the large wave of sand, with no other alternative he resorted to one last resort, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu** " he yelled. A large puff of smoke engulfed the arena and within that smoke appeared a gigantic red toad wielding a shield and a sasumata.

"Hello there Naruto-sama, Gamaken here at your service" said the toad, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, the wave of sand was easily defended against by Gamaken using his sasumata to guard the two of them to attack.

Thankfully for Naruto the stadium they fought in was of a massive caliber that it was large enough to even hold summoned creatures such as Gamaken, Gamahiro and Gamabunta. This stadium was not only used by genin in the Chunin Exams, this stadium was used by Kages, Jonin and ANBU to fight in for practice or for show and so obviously, it was made to withstand even the largest of summons. Thankfully there was also a powerful barrier surrounding the combatants to protect the civilians and audience members from stray projectiles or attacks.

The crowd gasped in awe and shock at the sight of the large toad, for a genin to summon at this age let alone a creature of this magnitude was unheard of. Jiraiya watched from the Kage's booth with a proud smile as his student managed to summon one of the three great battle toads of Mount Myoboku. This served only to boost his ego yet again, he felt as if he was the greatest sensei of all time.

After the wave of sand dispersed Naruto hastily took to the offensive, his toad summon Gamaken descended his weapon to try and crush his opponent.

Gaara countered this with one of his most powerful defensive techniques, **Saikō Zettai Bōgyo: Shukaku no Tate**. This jutsu was done in a much larger scale than normal, the toy like sand replica of Shukaku surrounded Gaara and it rose to around thirty feet, it managed to withstand the brunt force of the Sasumata before crumbling down, and as soon as the defense disintegrated Naruto threw an explosive kunai at Gaara.

The redhead managed to respond yet again this time with his **Suna no Tate** , but the shield couldn't fully form before the kunai exploded. Because of this a bit of the explosion managed to hit Gaara, his whole upper body was left unharmed but his left leg was slightly bloodied and a little bit burnt from the attack. Luckily for him though Shukaku was quickly healing his wounds.

Naruto noticed the burn marks on Gaara's legs were quickly disappearing this only proved that he too was a Jinchuuriki, no normal ninja would have that quick rate of healing and recovery.

"I'm impressed you're still standing, honestly though it's time to end this" Naruto said, with that he quickly teleported back to Gaara. Unlike last time he didn't need the kunai because during the initial Rasengan attack Naruto marked his opponent at the very same time.

Naruto appeared just in front of Gaara again and before Gaara could defend himself he formed yet another **Rasengan** and he plunged it into his solar plexus sending him off to collide with the wall.

"This is really getting interesting now HAHAHA" Naruto's eyes widened in shock, the tone in which Gaara said that was much deeper than it should have been, he watched soon as his opponent emerged from the area of attack but he wasn't the same Gaara as before. Instead in front of him was a downsized form of Shukaku.

"Fuck here we go" Naruto told himself. Being a Jinchuriki he knew first hand of the power of a Jinchuuriki when given hold of their Bijuu's chakra. Now he had unleashed the beast and now he was into a real fight.

The crowd gasped at the demonic form in front in the stage, they didn't know what it was but they were frightened by the powerful killer intent being released by the demonic figure.

* * *

 **Kage's Booth**

The Kazekage scowled upon seeing Gaara's demonic form, he had hoped to watch their battle a little further but with Gaara getting pushed to the limits he had no other choice but to commence his attack prematurely. The Kazekage slyly grabbed a smoke bomb in his pocket and unleashed it into the ground.

The audience's attention quickly turned to the Kage's booth and as soon as the smoke receded they saw the Kazekage holding their beloved Hokage with a kunai to his throat, the crowd roared in anger upon the sight. Immediately after this the Kazekage jumped up with the Hokage in his arms, Jiraiya of course followed suit to protect his sensei.

The Kazekage landed onto the roof of the arena and once there the Hokage noticed four of his minions on the corners of the roof about to complete a jutsu. Unlucky for them though Jiraiya arrived at the scene just in time before a powerful barrier jutsu was placed between Jiraiya and the two Kages.

* * *

 **Stands**

The civilians were all panicking at the sudden attack, immediately after the smoke erupting from the Kage's booth there was a flurry of explosions going off in different areas of Konoha, the civilians all tried to run away from the arena in hopes of finding safety but unfortunately for them there was someone in the crowd who unleashed a rather potent sleeping jutsu.

Many of the civilians fell onto the ground with an unforgiving thud as they fell to a deep slumber, the ninjas though managed to repel this attack and so they remained standing. But then all the Suna and Oto ninjas in the area began to attack the Konoha shinobi.

More and more reinforcements for Suna and Oto arrived in the scene, the Jonin and ANBU in the premises quickly acted and fought off the invading forces. The Konoha 12 however remained in one corner unsure of what to do, none of them had ever experienced something like this before.

Then out of nowhere five Oto ninjas appeared out of nowhere about the strike the genin, normally genin such as Neji and Sasuke would be able to fight these guys off but unfortunately for them they were still recovering from their fight just a while ago.

But before the Oto ninjas could strike the genin, a certain masked Jonin arrived just in time to strike down the enemies.

Sakura and Sasuke looked on in surprise at the man's sudden arrival, "Kakashi-sensei" they yelled.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

The young blonde was utterly confused as to what was happening, one second he was fighting Gaara head to head and now Konoha seemed to be at war with both Oto and Suna.

He turned his head back to Gaara only to find that the crazed young man was running off from the arena, even though his logic told him to follow him and try to restrain him. But in the end, he couldn't just leave Konoha in the midst of such an attack, he decided to go help the rest of Konoha protect against the incoming forces and as soon as things cleared up he would go on and try to catch up on Gaara.

With Naruto being one to follow his gut instinct, he ran towards the main source of carnage within Konoha. But before running towards that directon, he faced his toad summon with a stern face.

"Gamaken I think it's probably best we stay here and help the Konoha ninjas fight off these invading forces" he said.

Gamaken nodded and jumped off from the arena into the streets of Konoha, after leaving the stadium he quickly found many large snake summons roaming the city wreaking havoc.

"Why is it always the snakes?" he asked himself before jumping towards a snake nearly his size.

Naruto sighed, "Dammit it looks like we'll need a bit of backup" he muttered.

Naruto watched from the top of Gamaken's head, his blood was boiling after leaving the stadium as he witnessed the carnage and blood being brought by this cowardly surprise attack.

He knew that Gamaken wouldn't be enough to battle all these snakes and so when he saw one large snake summon breaking down one of the walls to Konoha, Naruto quickly summoned yet another toad for back up.

" **Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu** " he yelled, this time the summon alone managed to defeat a summon by calling the toad forth to land on his opponent. Naruto smirked upon seeing the large green toad known as Gamahiro standing on top of an unconscious snake summon.

"Gamahiro at your service Naruto-sama" said the toad.

"Gamahiro I need you to help Gamaken and I fight off these snake summons" he ordered.

The dual katana wielding toad saluted to the young blonde before jumping to the side of his battle partner Gamaken.

"It's good to see Gamahiro" said Gamaken.

The katana wielding toad nodded back, "Thanks Gamaken lets show these snakes who's boss"

It was times like this that Naruto was grateful for being a Jinchuuriki, had it not been for that he would have long exhausted his chakra reserves, hell he wouldn't have been even been able to summon a single of those battle toads let alone two.

* * *

 **With Kakashi**

The masked Jonin watched as his blonde student ran after the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki, after having dispatched the men who tried to attack the genin he quickly handed them orders.

"Alright kids I know none of you are really prepared for something like this but you're now all genin of Konoha and as genin you are all required to help Konoha in this time of need. As your superior officer, I'll be giving you all specific orders which you all need to follow. Are we clear?" he explained in a stern and serious tone.

The Jonin looked at both his students first, "Sasuke, Sakura I need you two to go and follow that Gaara kid, and I want you two to bring Shikamaru and Shino with you" he ordered, the four nodded and quickly ran off to catch up with the redheaded Jinchuuriki.

He then turned to Team Gai, "As for you three I need you to help evacuate the people in this stadium its dangerous right now for them to lie here half asleep from that damn jutsu. Don't worry though I'll get some ANBU to watch over you guys just in case" he said.

Then finally he looked at Ino, Choji, Kiba and Hinata, "I want you guys to do the same thing Team Gai is doing but head over to the opposite side of the stadium, I'll make sure to have ANBU guard you guys just in case" ordered Kakashi.

* * *

 **With Hiruzen**

"Kukuku looks like we're here for a wee reunion, all were missing is Tsunade" the Kazekage whispered at Hiruzen's ear.

"What are you talking about?" the Hokage yelled in anger.

Jiraiya watched unsure of what to do in the current situation, he could only watch as the Kazekage suddenly used his free hand to rip off the skin off his face. The Sannin was first disgusted at the sight but soon his eyes widened in shock upon seeing the true face of the Kazekage.

"Orochimaru you bastard" he yelled in anger.

Hiruzen scowled upon seeing Orochimaru's face off the corner of his eye, he knew there was something oddly familiar about the Kazekage and here it is, it was his wayward student all along.

"Kukuku it's good to see you two once more it's been far too long"

While Orochimaru was speaking, Hiruzen slyly elbowed the snake Sannin in the gut while he was in the midst of speaking, Orochimaru winced and his hold on the Hokage loosened giving him a chance to escape and jump back to join Jiraiya.

Orochimaru began to chuckle, "It looks like you still have a wee bit of skill in those bones old man".

"I may not be as strong as I used to be Orochimaru but I am still powerful enough to defeat you" Hiruzen replied confidently.

"Hey now you two don't forget I'm here too, you'd be an idiot to fight us both Orochimaru. Just give up now" the perverted Sannin exclaimed.

Orochimaru then began to chuckle menacingly, he held out one handseal and soon three coffins began to rise from the ground. Each coffin had a number placed on the top. There were three numbers all in the all, they had number one, two and four in their kanji forms.

Hiruzen's eyes widened in disbelief and his blood ran cold as he gazed upon the forbidden jutsu his sensei created, he couldn't believe that his student knew how to perform it.

"Jiraiya we need to stop him" Hiruzen yelled as he weaved through hand seals.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he yelled, soon Jiraiya caught on as to what was happening and he followed suit with his sensei.

Luckily, they had enough to stop the first two coffins from rising from the ground but it wasn't enough to stop the coffin with the kanji of four from rising from the ground. Orochimaru's sinister laugh echoed across the rooftop as soon as the coffin opened.

" **Edo Tensei** " Orochimaru whispered.

Hiruzen was enraged and Jiraiya was lost for words, in front of them was the deceased body of the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze, the lifeless body's eyes opened immediately and the figure walked out of the coffin to face the two of them.

"Hello Jiraiya-sensei, Hiruzen-sensei. It's good to see you two but I only wish it were under better circumstances" Minato said solemnly.

Jiraiya sighed, he was trying his best to restrain his anger at Orochimaru. 'Dammit you bastard, how could you use my own student against me? He was like a son to me and now I'm forced to battle him. I'll make you pay Orochimaru' he thought to himself.

Minato looked around and grimaced at the carnage surrounding Konoha he sighed in frustration because he knew he was now contributing to it as Orochimaru's puppet.

"I'm sorry sensei but unfortunately I have no choice" he said.

Hiruzen nodded his head in understanding, "Don't worry Minato it's not your fault, you have no say in the matter" he replied.

Orochimaru scowled, "Enough talk, attack them Minato" he ordered.

The Yondaime Hokage did his best to resist following the Sannin's orders, he stood there holding out as best as he could.

"What is this? I told you attack them. Stop wasting time" yelled the Snake Sannin.

Minato continued resisting to the best he could, "I can't hold out any longer, before we fight please tell me what's become of Naruto?" he asked.

Hiruzen smirked as did Jiraiya, "Your son has progressed quite well Minato, at this moment in time he already knows how to perform the Rasengan and he has perfected toad summoning. He also managed to learn the Hiraishin but he's still a bit inconsistent with it, he's still getting the hang of it" explained Jiraiya.

"Naruto acts a lot more like Kushina than he does you but he still has moments where he is a lot like you. He's a chip off the old block Minato and a fine young man, I couldn't be prouder of Naruto and I'm sure you'll be proud of your own son as well. You know his goal is to be Hokage one day?"

Minato chuckled, "Oh really? He wants to be Hokage as well?" he asked curiously.

Hiruzen nodded, "One day I might end up handing him the title but for now I'll hold on to it" he replied.

Minato smiled but soon he was beginning to lose control of his body. A small frown quickly marred the deceased Hokage's face, "I'm sorry you two but it looks like I can't delay any further" he said as he grabbed a Hiraishin kunai off his pocket.

Hiruzen sighed before going into a battle stance, Jiraiya too joined alongside his sensei. They were both conflicted in this battle, they wanted to stop Orochimaru but to get to him they had to first go through Minato.

* * *

 **With Sasuke**

The group as a whole followed the trail of destruction that Gaara left, but as soon as they grew closer to Gaara's location there seemed to be a roadblock in the way.

"Stop right there"

The group looked over to the source of the voice and there they saw Temari and Kankuro standing there prepared to fight the group. Shikamaru sighed upon the sight, "Troublesome" he muttered to himself.

"Sasuke, Sakura you two go ahead me and Shino will handle these guys" said Shikamaru confidently.

"Are you sure Shikamaru?" Sakura asked. The lazy Nara nodded.

"Go you two we can handle this, Sakura thanked him and the two members of Team Seven were off in search of Gaara"

"Tch how noble of you little boy but this time I'm winning against you" she yelled.

Shino on the other hand were staring out at Kankuro, "I presume Shikamaru wants to his fight a solo one" he silently told himself

Kankuro smirked as he stared at Shino, "I wasn't able to show off my true ability a while ago but prepare yourself now bug boy it's time for me to unveil my true powers" he yelled.

* * *

 **With Sasuke and Sakura**

The two arrived to find Gaara practically covered in his armor of sand, and just as they arrived Gaara began to emit an evil laugh.

"Finally, I was expecting to see Naruto, but oh well I guess the last Uchiha will suffice for now. Quite the treat for mother"

Sasuke stared out the Jinchuuriki with no fear whatsoever but Sakura on the other was easily unnerved by the killer intent radiating from the auburn haired Suna nin.

She was forced to take a step back out of fear, Sasuke stood his ground but he was a bit too excited to fight the young Jinchuuriki. From what he's seen Gaara was quite a powerful opponent and he was excited to test his skills against this kid but with no restrictions or rules whatsoever.

Sasuke confidently jumped in to quickly fight Gaara, " **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " he yelled as a fireball flew towards Gaara.

Gaara immediately followed suit with " **Suna no Tate** " to protect himself from the incoming fire attack.

"Sasuke-kun what are you doing?" Sakura yelled in shock.

"Don't interfere Sakura, I want to fight him myself. I can handle him" Sasuke yelled.

"You idiot we'd be better if we worked together"

"Don't Sakura, I want to do this myself and you can't even contribute much to this. I know I can do this myself. Do not interfere" he hissed in anger.

Sakura was hurt by that statement but she knew it was somewhat true, she had to stay back. Even she had to admit she would only be a burden to him right now.

Sasuke smirked and faced Gaara once more, " **Sen'ei Jashu** " he yelled as he shot snakes towards the Jinchuuriki. Gaara took another defensive stance with his **Sabakuha** as a wall of sand blocked the incoming snakes.

"Is that all you got Uchiha? **Sabaku: Hando** " Gaara yelled as to massive hands of sand began to surround Sasuke in hopes of crushing the young Uchiha. Sasuke scowled before releasing **Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu** to turn the incoming hands of sand into glass with the sheer heat of his flames. Sasuke smirked before kicking the glass hands apart.

" **Suna no Kaiwan** "

Another massive hand of sand emerged trying to capture Sasuke, but the Uchiha opened his Sharingan and he managed to dodge and anticipate the movement of the gigantic hands.

Then Gaara decided to take his attacks up a notch, while in his miniature Shukaku form he began to release " **Suna Shuriken** " towards Sasuke.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** " Sasuke used as a counter.

Gaara immediately followed suit with " **Rendan Suna Shigure** " but this time Sasuke didn't have time to dodge the attacks. He was hit by a flurry of sand projectiles, he was still recovering from his fight with Neji so the sand projectiles that hit him managed to only further his injuries.

Sasuke grimaced in pain and he clutched his bloodied torso, Gaara was running out of patience he wanted to deal with Sasuke to finally reach Naruto.

While Sasuke was injured by those shots Gaara decided to toy with his opponent for a little bit.

"Let me reintroduce you to pain Uchiha" he said menacingly.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

The young blonde felt like he had done his part in helping protect Konoha, he left Gamaken and Gamahiro there to serve as backup while he ran after Gaara. While in search of Gaara he stopped by a certain forest clearing and there he found a panting Shikamaru and Shino standing there looking after the unconscious bodies of Temari and Kankuro.

"What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked in shock.

Shikamaru turned back to see Naruto, "We just dealt with these two and Shino and I are done for now. Naruto, your two teammates ran up ahead in search of Gaara, go quickly I don't know what's happened thus far but Gaara is a powerful opponent even for Sasuke" he said.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, what direction did they go?" he asked.

Shikamaru pointed north, "I wish I could come along Naruto but me and Shino barely have any energy or chakra left and someone needs to look after these two" he said while pointing at Kankuro and Temari.

Naruto nodded in understanding, "Don't worry you two you've both done enough. Let me handle Gaara" but as soon as Naruto said that he heard a massive roar appear from a few kilometers north.

A gargantuan entity of sand rose from the ground in the shape of a Tanuki, Shikamaru and Shino looked on in fear of the being.

"What the fuck is that?" Shikamaru yelled in fear.

Naruto's heart nearly stopped, if Sasuke and Sakura were fighting him then they were in definite danger now that he's released his Bijuu.

"Dammit, I need to go now Shikamaru" he yelled as he ran as fast as he could towards the Bijuu.

* * *

 **With Sakura**

The young pinkette screamed in fear, Sasuke was bloodied, bruised and plain beaten and now that Gaara kid turned into this massive monster. She didn't know what to do, she knew she couldn't handle this sort of fight and her only protection was now down and out.

Gaara in his Shukaku form turned towards the bloodied and unconscious Sasuke, he used his gigantic hand to grab the boy. He could have easily killed him and crushed him there but he chose to place him to a nearby tree where he had a massive cluster of sand surrounding him.

Then he turned his attention to the young pinkette in the vicinity, "Don't think I forgot about you now. I'm saving the Uchiha for later but for now I guess I may as well just kill you" he said while chuckling.

Gaara raised his massive hand of sand and was about to swipe away at the tree Sakura stood on, the pinkette watched as her life was about to be taken away from her. Tears fell from her face, at this point of time she just accepted her inevitable death. It was coming and there was nothing she could do about it. But just before the hand swept at her she closed her eyes instinctively.

Death seemed inevitable at this point, but just a few milliseconds before the gigantic hand of sand managed to decimate the area she stood on, a yellow flash appeared. Naruto arrived just in time to carry her away from the attack. He was running a wee bit late, he arrived only to see Gaara on the verge of killing Sakura and in an act of desperation he threw a Hiraishin Kunai to allow him to teleport to Sakura's side to carry her away from the danger.

Naruto carried the unsuspecting Sakura in a bridal style, he glanced back from the corner of his eye to stare at Gaara. Naruto was beyond angry, had he been a little bit later he was certain the girl he loved would have died.

Sakura opened his teary eyes in shock to find Naruto carrying her, a small blush adorned her cheeks but overall, she was just happy to see Naruto. Recently she had been a bit scared of Naruto with the events transpiring in the Forest of Death, she was still frightened by Naruto but seeing him made her feel a sense of relief seeing as how he did just save her life.

Naruto turned back to face Sakura, he gave her a soft smile to try and calm her down.

"Sorry I was late, are you alright Sakura-chan?" he asked.

Sakura nodded shakily, "Yeah I think I'm alright, thanks Naruto" she replied.

Naruto nodded before allowing her to stand again, "Where's Sasuke?" he asked fearfully.

Sakura bit her bottom lip before pointing at the cluster of sand stuck into the side of a tree. Naruto saw this and nodded, "I see" he replied.

Gaara chuckled, "Well I'm glad you finally made it, I left your friend the Uchiha on the wall over there as a precaution. If you want him to be set free you'll first have to defeat me, but you only have an hour to do so. If we pass an hour then I will crush him with my sands" he yelled.

"You're a sick bastard I'll make you pay for this, I will not let you get away with this"

Naruto then turned back to the pinkette, "Sakura-chan I suggest you step back for now and watch from afar. Let me deal with him myself" he said confidently.

Sakura nodded before jumping back away from the fight, but before heading back she turned back to Naruto.

"I'm sorry if I've been avoiding you Naruto, but thank you so much. Maybe after this I might go with you for some ramen to thank you for saving me" she said.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock while his cheeks reddened considerably, "Don't worry about it Sakura, I would save you regardless" he replied.

The young blonde then turned back to Gaara with a serious expression, it looked rather heroic. Naruto stared out his opponent his haori flapping in the wind, Naruto was like the spitting image of his own father when he saved Kushina from the Kyuubi. History definitely had a way of repeating itself sometimes.

"Prepare yourself Gaara, as the future Hokage of Konoha I will not let you harm Konoha further. I will stop you right here right now"

* * *

 **Glossary**

Hiraishin no Jutsu - Flying Thunder God Jutsu

Suna Shuriken - Sand Shuriken

Suna no Kaiwan - Monstrous Sand Arm

Sabaku: Hando - Desert: Hand

Rasengan - Spiralling Sphere

Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Summoning Technique

Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu - Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique

Sen'ei Jashu - Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu - Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

Suna no Yoroi - Armour of Sand

Ryūsa Bakuryū - Quicksand Waterfall Flow

Saikō Zettai Bōgyo: Shukaku no Tate - Ultimately Hard Absolute Defence: Shield of Shukaku

Suna no Tate - Shield of Sand

Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei - Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation

Sabakuha - Desert Wave

Rendan Suna Shigure - Successive Shots Sand Drizzle

 **Author's Note**

Well here it is, sorry for the delay but yeah here it is. I gave you all a wee taste of the fight and now the next one will be even more epic I promise you guys. Please also remember to head over to my profile for my poll, and thanks again everyone for the support. Sorry for the lateness but its just been a bit of a hassle sometimes. But once again if you guys have any questions, inquiries or suggestions please leave a review or pm me I'll try and answer everything. Thanks again everyone for the support and much love.


	7. Like Father Like Son

Yondaime's Legacy

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

 **Author's Notice: Well here is the return of Yondaime's Legacy sorry for the wait everyone but I'm glad to be back with this. Also for those who don't know but follow my other story The Legendary Three I revamped the first chapter with a new one and I explained my reason over there. Also, another small thing for those who also follow it as well, make sure to vote on the poll on my profile concerning Naruto's possible Kekkei Genkai for the story.**

 **On the topic of Kekkei Genkai I also plan on incorporating one in this story, I'm not set on this but I am considering giving Naruto the Storm Release Kekkei Genkai since it seems cool in my opinion and it kind of works with the whole yellow flash mystique and whatnot. You guys can hit me up what you guys think and I'll make my decision of that, I don't want to make Naruto too OP because I hate super OP stories but even though Naruto is quite strong already with the Rasengan and Hiraishin in this story along with summoning and shadow clones. I'm making him lack perfect control and efficiency with the jutsu, that and so I plan on having him focus on that part of his training for a wee while until he's mastered them fully. I don't want to make him master all those jutsus while already mastering four elements and every jutsu known to man, I want to have him build up to that.**

 **Anyway, thanks everyone for the support and patience, if you guys have any suggestions or questions on any of my stories feel free to leave a review or to pm me, I will try to answer to the best I can. Please continue supporting as well, I love the support and I would really appreciate it if you guys continue giving my stories a favorite and a follow. Much love guys, thanks and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Like Father Like Son**

"You took your time nine, you kept me waiting and I had to make due with those other two"

Naruto glared daggers at the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, he knew he was taunting him and he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of unleashing a tail or two for the fight about to come. He knew he was capable enough of dealing with Gaara himself, he didn't want to rely on the Kyuubi any longer especially at how it hurt Sakura at the Forest of Death. This was a fight Naruto had to take on himself.

"I will make you pay for what you did, if you wish to proceed to Konoha you must first get through me"

"Strong words but the question is if you can truly back it up. To give you extra incentive you must defeat me because if not I will crush the Uchiha boy I bound to that tree with my sand" he warned, Naruto grimaced and he summoned up all his inner strength he really had to win this battle or else the consequences were truly dire. His team would be killed, and Konoha may be destroyed he must win.

Gaara chuckled darkly as he swiped his gigantic claw of sand onto Naruto, the young blonde quickly grabbed Sakura and jumped away from the attack onto another large tree branch. He turned to Sakura with a serious expression, an expression unfamiliar to Sakura. For as long as she's known Naruto he always seemed to be the easygoing carefree type but the Naruto in front of her was dead serious.

"Sakura-chan hide somewhere safe, things are going to get messy" he said before throwing Hiraishin kunai across the battle field. Sakura nodded before hiding behind one of the farther tree branches, enough to get out of the line of attacks but not far enough that she wouldn't see the battle.

" **Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"** yelled Naruto as hundreds of shadow clones engulfed the area, before Gaara could attack all the clones threw kunai with explosive tags attached to them. It resulted in a large explosion at the Ichibi Jinchuuriki. This left the massive armor of sand dented but not enough to break it, the clones then followed up with throwing barrages of shuriken.

" **Shihōhappō Shuriken"**

Once again, the armor remained standing but it continued damaging the large form, Gaara was now angered he roared powerfully before using **Suna no Kaiwan** in effect swiping his gigantic sand claw at the army of clones.

"Enough of this" he yelled in anger as he dispelled most of Naruto's clones while demolishing the trees around the area.

" **Ryūsa Bakuryū"** Gaara took the offensive stance as he unleashed a massive wave of sand towards the blonde genin, Naruto cursed his luck he had to resort to using the **Hiraishin no Jutsu** to transport himself to a different area battle ground.

The blonde cursed himself however he was feeling the effects of the Hiraishin draining him, he still had tons of chakra to go but with his horrendous chakra control and his inefficiency with the **Hiraishin no Jutsu** thus far Naruto calculated he could only use this jutsu a few more times. It was a very powerful jutsu but at the same time it was also very taxing and Naruto had to use it in caution from now on.

He found himself in an area outside of Gaara's vision, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki roared as he searched for his opponent. He knew he teleported somewhere because before the wave of sand collided with him a flash of yellow light appeared much like the one he witnessed in the stadium when he fought Naruto for the first time.

While he was outside Gaara's vision, Naruto summoned a few shadow clones as he helped him form a **Rasengan**. Once the jutsu was in the palm of his hand he had his clones boost him up to allow him to jump to just behind the Tanuki's sand head. Naruto then plunged the jutsu briefly destroying the head until sand returned to reform the head of sand that had just exploded.

But as sound began to engulf the head to recreate the Tanuki's head, Naruto managed to hear a cry of pain. Gaara in Ichibi form turned back and Naruto saw the damage he had done, most of the jutsu's power had been negated by the sand surrounding him but the power of the jutsu managed to reach Gaara regardless as the boy's face appeared bruised and bloody.

"You will pay for that" he seethed before using **Fūton: Renkūdan** to send a large compressed bullet of wind at the young blonde.

"Oh fuck" exclaimed Naruto before once again using **Hiraishin no Jutsu** to teleport away to dodge the quick incoming attack, it came at the speed of a bullet so Naruto had not had much time to react.

"Shit that's two already, I could probably do three more but that's about it" he silently said to himself as he clenched his fist in frustration.

Once again Naruto transported to one of Gaara's blind spots, he tried his best to mask his chakra as well to give himself more time before the auburn-haired Jinchuuriki could find him. The blonde couldn't help but get annoyed at how shite his chakra control was, he made a memo to train in it some more when he returned because now it was limiting him a bit. Naruto's only saving grace though was the massive amount of chakra he had, it was nearly unhuman how much chakra he stored. He discarded that thought it was no time for him to complain or face regrets he had to beat this Gaara guy first.

" **Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan"**

The army of clones all lunged at Gaara before he could properly react, they delivered punches, kicks and stabs with the kunai. This only served to rile Gaara up further, he roared once more but this time it was powerful enough to blow some of the clones away.

" **Suna Arare"** Gaara summoned a massive clump into the air before using it as bullets to barrage and dispel the army of clones. The area of attack was so large that one more time Naruto was forced to use the **Hiraishin no Jutsu** thus leaving him with probably two last uses.

Gaara was now getting annoyed with these games of cat and mouse, he wanted a proper fight none of this evasive or surprise attack forms of combat.

" **Sabaku Taisō"**

The ground slowly turned into sand and it began to destroy the trees surrounding the battlefield giving Naruto less chances of hiding by the trees. Naruto panicked and ran from tree to tree before they fell, he wanted to conceal himself a bit longer while he came up with his next attack.

Unfortunately for Naruto though the trees were diminishing thus making it easier for Gaara to spot him and when he did he a bloodthirsty grin appeared on the boy's face.

"There you are I finally found you" he said before unleashing bullets of sand at Naruto, **"Rendan Suna Shigure"**

Naruto was forced to dodge and run, the trees with the Hiraishin kunai marked were now gone and what's worse was that he was finally left with only one extra kunai in his pouch. So much for having two, now things were much more difficult seeing that he had to fight Gaara head on.

"Come at me Uzumaki, fight me and let's see which Jinchuuriki is stronger"

The young Uzumaki sighed he knew he had to pull out the big guns now, he jumped down into the sandy ground and before Gaara could step on him he threw a couple of smoke bombs before disappearing one last time. While Gaara watched for the smoke to disappear he never noticed Naruto weaving hand seals just slightly away from the area he was concerned about.

" **Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu"**

Gamabunta appeared from the sky and crushed Gaara in his Ichibi form, "What's going here brat? Why'd you summon me now?" Gamabunta roared in annoyance.

Before Naruto could reply Gaara screamed before overpowering Gamabunta and throwing him a good distance away from him. Gamabunta's eyes widened in shock at the sight of Gaara in his Ichibi form.

"Forget what I just said brat, it's been a while since I had a good fight" the toad chief claimed with a cocky grin. Naruto nodded before jumping off to the top of Gamabunta's gigantic head. He crossed his arms as he stared down his opponent.

"Looks like things finally got serious" said Gaara in that case I have no other choice.

" **Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu"**

Naruto and Gamabunta watched curiously as the strange boy began to sleep in broad daylight the two were surprised by this choice. But then a dark and sinister laugh emerged from the figure in front of them, it was a laugh much different from Gaara's. It was much deeper and far more menacing.

"I'm Free" yelled the Tanuki figure, "That brat finally let me free. All of you prepare to die, nothing will stop me now"

Naruto's eyes widened upon realization of what had just happened. Gaara had allowed the Ichibi full control to defeat him. Gamabunta realized the same thing and glanced onto his summoner.

"Are you ready brat? This is going to be a tough fight"

Naruto stood up confident as he stared down the Ichibi, he may have been young but he was not fearful of the danger that laid in front of him. He couldn't afford to fear him, he was tasked with protecting his friends and his home and he would stop at nothing to make sure that the Tanuki would not reach Konoha. It was a Hokage's duty to protect Konoha from any danger and as the son of a former Hokage and as a boy who dreams of one day also becoming Hokage he relished this moment. This was the time for him to prove himself, this was the time for him to show the world his true power.

"Ichibi, you will not win this fight today. I will stop you right here right now, I will protect Konoha" Naruto yelled with a fierce determination, Gamabunta could only smile as this feeling and this situation right here felt oh so familiar. It was thirteen years ago when Gamabunta helped Minato fight off the Kyuubi to protect Konoha and now here he was helping Naruto, Minato's own son, protect Konoha from a similar threat: The Ichibi.

'Like father like son' the toad chieftain fondly thought to himself, 'It has been an honor serving Minato and I expect remarkable things from you as well Naruto'

Gamabunta then charged at the Ichibi and slashed him with his giant sword, the Ichibi countered this by grabbing the sword with his hand. With his free hand, he attempted to punch the toad only for Naruto to throw a kunai with an explosive tag to destroy the arm momentarily until the sand that was blown off returned to the creature. The two large beings then clashed with their remaining arms they wrestled in a battle of strength.

While in this close standoffish situation Gamabunta decided to use a sneaky attack to render his opponent momentarily. While both hands were busy fending off their opponent's own, the toad managed to knead a large bullet of water and send it crashing into the Ichibi's torse.

" **Suiton: Teppōdama"**

The Ichibi was sent back and he had to nurse his damaged stomach, while in this state Gamabunta jumped up into the sky preparing to attack the creature with his weapon.

" **Gamadosuzan"**

The toad managed to cut the creature in half separating the lower body from the upper body with the waist as the divider,as both halves unceremoniously fell to the ground. Gamabunta sheathed his weapon before smiling confidently it appeared the battle was over. Naruto sighed in relief but just before he was about to congratulate his toad companion the menacing chuckle returned. The two turned to see the Ichibi's two halves reforming together and the two were left shocked and slightly discouraged.

"It's going to take more than that to defeat me" taunted the Bijuu.

Both Naruto and Gamabunta clenched their jaws, "Damn how are we meant to defeat this guy then" Naruto yelled in frustration before the toad once again unsheathed his sword preparing for round two with the mythical Bijuu.

* * *

 **With Hiruzen**

The Hokage was breathing raggedly as he fought not only Orochimaru but his successor and predecessor the Yondaime Hokage. Lucky for him he had Jiraiya on his side, the perverted Sannin was in his **Sennin Mōdo** thus making the battle more even. Both sides were even in their strength and their battle had been dragging on for a while now. Neither side letting up, with Minato regretfully having to fight two of his teachers.

"Jiraiya I need you to keep them occupied for a while, I know how to end this" Hiruzen said in an authoritative tone, Jiraiya could only nod as he jumped up to attack his old teammate and student.

" **Senpō: Goemon"**

The battle raged on with Jiraiya doing his best to hold them down, of course it was easier said than done seeing how these were two Kage level ninjas.

Hiruzen watched on as he prepared his jutsu, he wanted to help Jiraiya but he needed to end this now. He knew of the effects of the **Kuchiyose** : **Edo Tensei** , it wasn't Orochimaru they were truly worried about it was an immortal Minato Namikaze. They could attack him all they wanted but he'd just regenerate instantly. Thankfully his sensei Tobirama Senju the creator of said jutsu also made a failsafe in case this would be used against Konoha. It was a delicate and difficult seal to make and so Hiruzen was doing the best he can to form the seal as fast as possible. The seal was complex to make and his sensei Tobirama based it on the **Keiyaku Fūin** used on summoned creatures, this seal's purpose was to remove any direct control the summoner has on any summoned creatures and with the zombies from the reincarnation jutsu technically being summoned creatures, Tobirama used the idea of the **Keiyaku Fūin** to create a countermeasure for his own jutsu the **Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei**.

Once the powerful seal tag was finally formed Hiruzen yelled at his wayward student, "You've disappointed me Orochimaru and for that you will have to pay. Jiraiya take care of Orochimaru leave Minato to me for now" he ordered.

"I'm sorry for this Minato" Hiruzen said apologetically, Minato could only sigh in return.

"It is I who must apologize Hiruzen-sensei" he replied before jumping to attack the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen ducked and kicked Minato away a few meters.

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

Enma rose from the smoke and stared down the two enemies, he gasped at the sight of Minato but he could bare his fangs at the sight of the snake Orochimaru.

"Enma I need your help, please hold down Minato" ordered Hiruzen, the ape nodded before jumping towards Minato engaging him in a taijutsu fight, Hiruzen jumped in as well to help overpower Minato and of course it worked. Enma managed to land a solid punch at Minato before grabbing him and holding him down. Hiruzen saw this and he saw Minato trying to teleport somewhere else but just before he could the Sandaime Hokage used **Shunshin** to appear just in front of Minato and place the tag on his chest.

Minato's eyes widened in shock as he felt his soul leaving his body he smiled over at Hiruzen finally at peace and sighed in relief, "Please take care of Naruto Hiruzen-sensei" he said before his revived body disappeared and his soul returned to the realm of the Shinigami.

Hiruzen and Enma then walked over to corner Orochimaru with Jiraiya, the Snake Sannin cursed his luck now that Minato was gone he was severely overpowered by his opponents. He chuckled however in the face of these three, "Kukuku it appears I misjudged this fight, I was certain I'd come out victorious but it goes otherwise. Unfortunately, as much as I loved this reunion I must leave" he said before releasing the barrier holding them down. But before he tried to leave the trio of Enma, Hiruzen and Jiraiya all tried to attack the spot Orochimaru stood on.

Before the attacks connected he simply vanished but not muttering the words **"Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu"** , the three cursed their luck they finally had their chance to dispose of one of Konoha's biggest threats right then and there but it was no use of course Orochimaru had an escape plan. He was probably in Ryūchi Cave with the snakes.

Hiruzen sighed before glancing at the destruction being brought up onto the village, "Jiraiya, Enma we need to protect Konoha from Suna and Oto. Now that Orochimaru is gone we must not dwell on him any further, we must focus on the other threats before us" he said before hearing a massive roar and thud on the outskirts of the village. Hiruzen and Jiraiya all examined the direction from which the sound came from and they all gasped in shock as they found a legendary fight in the distance. From what they could see Gamabunta was there and the other was a massive Tanuki made of sand, the three realized what was going on and Hiruzen clenched his fist in anger.

"Is this what you wanted Orochimaru?" he asked to no one in particular, "Jiraiya head over there I'll handle the Suna and Oto troops with Enma".

Jiraiya nodded before jumping off into the distance, he knew exactly who was fighting in that battle. There was only one other person who could summon toads other than him and it was his own student.

* * *

 **With Naruto**

Naruto and Gamabunta were left bruised and severely exhausted from their battle with the Ichibi, they didn't expect this to be an easy fight but it was much more difficult than they thought. During their fight, they managed to push back the Bijuu as far away from Konoha as they can, in that distance it allowed Sakura to help free Sasuke while the two were outside the reach of the battle.

But from the battle despite how much they damaged and attacked the body of the Ichibi it just continued to reform and heal seeing how it was purely made of chakra and sand. Upon seeing his struggling enemies, the Ichibi took advantage of his opponent's tired states.

" **Sabaku Sōtaisō Fūin"**

Gamabunta tried to jump away but he was sealed from the neck down in sand unable to move, Naruto on the other hand managed to get just enough time to jump away but he had to free Gamabunta if he had a shot of winning this bout.

But while in the air the Ichibi reacted quickly as he chuckled menacingly, he shot sand over to Naruto and the blonde saw this and so he tried to throw his last Hiraishin kunai away but unfortunately for him the sand managed to reach him and cover his body slowly squeezing it and he was forced to drop his kunai somewhere on the ground. Naruto struggled and tried to escape but he was stuck in sand held up high across the sky. Shukaku smiled it was time to end this once and for all.

" **Sabaku Kyū"**

Naruto felt the sand compressing and crushing him, but then he remembered he dropped his Hiraishin kunai somewhere on the ground it didn't matter anymore he had to use it or else he would die. Before the sand could fully crush the blonde boy, a yellow blinding light shined through the crevices of the sand tomb. Shukaku scowled at the sight he was expecting bullets of blood splattering everywhere. It appears as so the boy had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

While Naruto escaped to momentarily tend to his wounds at the close call just before, an idea popped into his head.

'The fight got harder when the Ichibi took over when the weird kid fell asleep, if I wake him up again maybe just maybe we stand a chance' he thought to himself and with that he ran up to Gamabunta before summoning hundreds of shadow clones once more.

" **Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"**

The Ichibi noticed the existence of all these clones, it was hard not to notice them and so he prepared a wave of sand to flush them away. But before he could do so all the clones jumped up into the air and threw hundreds of explosive tags to destroy the pyramid surrounding and sealing the giant toad. As soon as the pyramid seal was substantially weakened, Gamabunta summoned the rest of his strength to break through the seal releasing him and thus allowing him to fight once more. The original Naruto jumped over to the toad's head while the rest of his clones were dispelled by the sand that the Tanuki brought upon them.

"Gamabunta I need you to fight the Tanuki and get me as clone as you can to Gaara's body on the forehead of the Ichibi. I know how to defeat them" he said as Gamabunta nodded in understanding.

"Leave it to me kid" he said as he lunged over to the tanuki to fight him up close, as the distance between them was lowered significantly Naruto quickly jumped up into the Tanuki's head. The Ichibi tried to counter this but he needed both his arms to protect himself from Gamabunta's incoming attacks, and so he couldn't swat Naruto away.

Naruto then leaned closer but then a smaller replica of the Bijuu's hand emerged from his stomach catching the blonde boy. The **Suna no Kaiwan** managed to reach Naruto just in time and the blonde cursed his luck, but just before the hand threw him away as far as it could Naruto summoned a few of his shadow clones.

The clones then carried and threw one of their own as close as they can to Gaara with their **Bunshin Taiatari** , the sand arm immediately threw the original Naruto as far away as it can but before it could return to swat away at the clones, the one shadow clones thrown over managed to land a solid punch on Gaara thus waking him up from his slumber.

Unfortunately for Naruto he was thrown over to some trees breaking them from the sheer force of impact, he coughed out blood and he winced at the pain of some of his broken bones. He knew immediately that he must have broken an arm and a few ribs, and he must have at least fractured a leg among other things.

"No fuck no it can't be over so soon" yelled the Tanuki as Gaara began to take over for the Bijuu, the auburn-haired Jinchuuriki woke up from his slumber in annoyance he expected the battle to be over already but at the sight of Gamabunta in front of him he had no choice but to carry on where he last left off and where his Bijuu last left off.

"Dammit, why can't you all die already" Gaara yelled in anger as he began to summon his strength overpowering Gamabunta. The toad chief was injured severely by now and he was on his last leg losing the small battle of strength against Gaara in the Ichibi form.

Naruto from afar saw this and he gingerly stood up from his position, he was down to the last few bits of his chakra and it was now or never. This would be the final attack he would do, he was glad the clone managed to land a punch to Gaara because unknown to his fellow Jinchuuriki the punch served to mark him with a Hiraishin seal as well. This would be the last time Naruto would be able to use this jutsu today because of how much he stressed his chakra reserves so this one had to count.

Before then he summoned one shadow clone and he held out his limping and bloody hand forming a blue ball of chakra, he then breathed deeply before channeling his chakra and immediately appearing in front of the Suna Jinchuuriki with a blinding yellow light. Gaara's eyes widened at the immediate arrival of Naruto and before he could react Naruto plunged the devastating jutsu to his torso.

" **Rasengan"**

Gaara then roared in utter pain and the sand surrounding him began to vanish quickly, and the two fell to the ground unceremoniously with a loud thud further increasing their injuries. The two began to cough out blood and they winced in utter pain.

"I lost" Gaara muttered to himself in disbelief before turning his head over to Naruto, "I lost now kill me. End my pain and misery kill me" he pleaded to Naruto.

Naruto turned to him in surprise and sympathy, had things been differently this would have been him but he was lucky that he had a few friends that strayed him from that dark road. He looked on at Gaara sadly he knew how difficult it was to be lonely, to be looked upon as a monster, being treated like a demon even when he was just the container.

"I know that feeling, as a fellow Jinchuuriki trust me when I say that there have been times where I too just wanted to die. But I will not kill you"

"Why won't you kill me? I am begging you to end my suffering. Aren't you mad at me I almost killed your two teammates if given the chance I would destroy your village and kill you in the process"

Naruto chuckled softly, "I won't because I can sympathize with you, if things had gone differently between us I could be in the same situation as you, with you being in the same situation as I am right now. I understand your struggle and even with what's happening I forgive you, you're a product of the hatred in the world and I want to help free you from this burden. From this day forth Gaara we'll be friends" he said with an idealistic gleam in his eyes.

"Friends?" muttered the Ichibi Jinchuuriki, this was such a foreign term to him.

Naruto nodded as he continued to stare up into the sky, "Yes we're friends now, and the next time we fight it shall be as Kages" he said proudly.

Gaara turned to him in disbelief, "Are you a fool? Me as Kazekage you're spouting nonsense" he seethed.

"Could be nonsense but then again nothing is impossible, maybe you can prove yourself to the village and rise up from the title they give us as Jinchuuriki and protect the village as a Kage instead"

Gaara turned to Naruto as he studied the grinning blonde, "You're a strange one Naruto Uzumaki" he claimed softly.

Naruto chuckled before turning to face Gaara, "You may be a crazy, lunatic bastard but I guess you may not be too bad friend" he said.

Gaara then for the first time in a long time showed an expression, the corners of his mouth twitched into a small smile, "Friends, what an odd feeling" he muttered before sleep soon caught up to the two.

Soon Kankuro and Temari arrived hobbling they gathered their brother and left for Konoha leaving Naruto to lay on the ground, but luckily for him Sakura soon arrived with Sasuke in tow and Jiraiya managed to arrive not much longer. Gamabunta explained the situation and what happened to them and both Sakura and Jiraiya couldn't believe what had just happened. Jiraiya carried Naruto and he summoned a toad to help carry Sasuke.

Jiraiya glanced at his student with pride, to defeat the Ichibi in such a way maybe just maybe Naruto really can surpass his father. If anyone could he would be able to.

Sakura also turned to look at the unconscious Naruto being carried on the Sannin's back, the boy continues to surprise her and this was the biggest surprise of all. She must have truly misjudged Naruto, things had been iffy with them as of late but then again when it mattered he was there to protect her from anything and only then did she come to fully realize the recklessness of Naruto's chivalry. He had just fought a Bijuu not only to protect Konoha but to protect her, he truly went the extra mile to make sure she was safe, hell he fought Orochimaru as well just to protect her.

Maybe Naruto wasn't as bad as she thought, maybe he really might just be the Hokage one day. One thing was for sure, he really turned Sakura into a believer today.

* * *

 **Author's Notice**

Hey everyone, here is the latest chapter of this story, quite a large glossary but wanted to incorporate as many jutsus as I could have. Anyway, thanks for the patience everyone and I hope you remember to tell me what you think about possibly giving Naruto Storm Release in this story, and please also to remember to vote on the poll concerning what Kekkei Genkai Naruto should have for my other story the Legendary Three. Thanks again everyone I really appreciate the support please continue to favorite and follow my stories, and if you guys have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a review or to pm me I really appreciate all this. Much love guys and I hoped you all enjoyed this.

 **Glossary**

Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

Shihōhappō Shuriken - All Directions Shuriken

Suna no Kaiwan - Monstrous Sand Arm

Ryūsa Bakuryū - Quicksand Waterfall Flow

Hiraishin no Jutsu - Flying Thunder God Technique

Rasengan - Spiraling Sphere

Fūton: Renkūdan - Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet

Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan - Naruto Uzumaki Two Thousand Combo

Suna Arare - Sand Hail

Sabaku Taisō - Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral

Rendan Suna Shigure - Successive Shots Sand Drizzle

Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu - Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique

Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu - Feigning Sleep Technique

Suiton: Teppōdama - Water Release: Gunshot

Gamadosuzan - Toad Sword Beheading

Sennin Mōdo - Sage Mode

Senpō: Goemon - Sage Art: Goemon

Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei - Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation

Keiyaku Fūin - Contract Seal

Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Summoning Technique

Shunshin - Body Flicker Technique

Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Reverse Summoning Technique

Sabaku Sōtaisō Fūin - Desert Layered Imperial Funeral Seal

Sabaku Kyū - Sand Binding Coffin

Bunshin Taiatari - Clone Body Blow


End file.
